Avast!
by Nightfoot
Summary: In the flooded world of Aque Lumireis, a small crew of privateers gets caught up in a world changing adventure. That's right, it's a pirate AU. Fluri and Ristelle.
1. The Brave Vesperia

First of all, this fic got life as a collaboration across Tumblr. It would not have been possible without the contributions of Hoskky, silkofscarlet, suspicious-popsicle, the-fluri-corner, and anyone else whose name I sadly forgot. Especially, Hoskky, who drew the cover image and whose drawings started this whole thing in the first place. Since this started as a collaboration, I'd like to encourage anyone interested to feel free to submit your own ideas, art, fic, whatever.

The story is set in a world very much like the canon world, with some key differences. For example, the culture of the empire has been adjusted to more closely resemble our own 18th century during the Golden Age of Piracy. A map of the world, and supporting meta documents and art, can be found on my and Hoskky's tumblrs (tumblr urls: hoskky, and fontasticcrablettes).

Also, you can expect this story to eventually have Fluri and Ristelle.

* * *

**Chapter One: The _Brave Vesperia_**

_Our world, Aque Lumireis… No one knows how far its islands and oceans stretch, for the people are no match against the surging seas that cover the world. Brave sailors protect the islands on which we live, and we are completely dependant upon trade routes for our survival. It is an age of wooden ships and iron men. The Imperial Navy works tirelessly to defend our waters from monsters and pirates, protecting the merchants that bring us food, wealth, and fresh water. They have provided us with everything that has made the empire prosper. Perhaps one day, we may even forget the threat of the ever rising tides that threaten our coastlines. The efforts of the navy will bestow ever more prosperity to the empire, and peace to its people… From the imperial capital of Zaphias, anchor of peace, we pray: may tranquillity bless this world._

Estellise Sidos Heurassein, princess of the Empire, candidate to the imperial throne, was bored. She hated that she was bored, because for the first time in her life, she was on a journey away from the capital. She'd spent her entire life cooped up in the castle, staring out the window at the ocean and wondering what was out there, and now she was here. The wooden railing of the ship was rough through her thin silk gloves, and her body rocked with the motion of the waves. The cool, salty breeze threatened to tear down her long pink hair, which was carefully tied atop her head.

She'd been at sea now for nearly a week, and the excitement of leaving the castle had worn off. Her dreams of the wonders of the ocean dimmed when she learned that most of the ocean looked exactly the same: flat, blue, and vaguely shimmery. Perhaps she would be less bored if she knew precisely why Admiral Alexei had summoned her, because at least then she'd have something to look forward to. All she knew, though, was that the admiral had summoned her "for a personal matter" and Captain Flynn of the Imperial Navy was escorting her to the admiral's flagship docked in Heliord.

"Lady Estellise."

She jumped at the sound of her name, and looked over her shoulder with a smile. "Oh, hello, Flynn. Do you need something?"

"No. I thought you looked a bit sad. Are you feeling alright?"

Estellise put a smile on. "Yes, I'm fine." To be honest, she was more than a little lonely. Everyone else on the ship had a job to do, but when she offered to help to give herself something to do and not feel so useless, they brushed her aside and told her that a princess had no place doing menial labour around a ship. This was at least better than when they walked off muttering about women on ships being bad luck. This left her with no companions - not even the books she'd had to pass the time with in the castle. In the castle, Flynn spent ages sitting and talking with her, and she counted him as one of her closest and dearest friends. Here, he was just as busy as all the others and had little time to spare. She didn't resent him, because he had an important job as the captain of the ship, and she didn't want him to worry about her when her only problem was loneliness. "How much longer do you think it will be until we reach Heliord?"

"Probably another week or so," Flynn said. "Assuming we don't get another storm like the one last night."

"It wasn't so bad," Estellise said. There had been thunder and lighting, but by the long gap between the two, she knew the heart of the storm had been far away.

"Right," Flynn said. "That's because I saw the storm coming and veered off course accordingly to avoid it."

"Oh, I see." She leaned forward on the railing, watching the white crests of waves drift past below her. "Are you going to be the one to take me home after my meeting with Alexei?" She hoped so. It was lonely enough on a ship when it was her best friend's.

"I'm not sure," Flynn said. "We don't know how long Admiral Alexei will want to meet with you. If he doesn't give me any further orders, most likely."

"Good." She couldn't hold back a smile. Although, she wasn't sure she wanted to go straight back to the capital again. An all twenty years of her life, she had never once been allowed to set foot beyond the castle walls. Now that she was finally out and seeing the world, she didn't want to go straight back. There had to be more adventure to be found on the high seas than just staring at endless ocean currents.

"Sir!"

Estellise smiled when Sodia approached. Sodia was the only other woman on the ship, and the only other person not officially part of the navy. Women, of course, were not allowed to enlist, but as an old friend of Flynn's, he'd bent the rules and allowed her to accompany her fiancé Ivan when he joined up. Estellise wished she had gotten a chance to meet Ivan, because Sodia and Flynn always spoke highly of him, but he'd been killed in a skirmish with pirates only three months ago. Flynn kept saying that Sodia would have to leave the ship 'at the next port' but somehow that never happened.

Sodia saluted when she reached Flynn, for all the world like a proper navy soldier. "A lookout has spotted a ship off the port side. It's already quite close; the fog from this morning obscured it until now."

"Is it one of ours?" Flynn asked, immediately setting off across the deck to the port side. Estellise hurried to follow him.

"No, sir," Sodia said.

Estellise felt a stab of fear. "Is it… pirates?" As much as she'd wished for excitement, the prospect of actually meeting pirates was scary.

"Unlikely," Flynn said, looking to her with a comforting smile. "Probably a merchant ship." They reached the other side of the ship, and when Estellise squinted she could make out a dark blur on the horizon. Flynn pulled out a telescope and peered through it, his frown deepening. "It's a Union ship, alright," Flynn said. "But they've knotted the flag."

Estellise cocked her head to the side. "Knotted? What do you mean?"

"Here, look for yourself." He handed her the telescope.

Estellise peered through with excitement. This was the first other ship they'd spotted since leaving Zaphias, and it wasn't even just another navy ship. Heliord was close to the Union stronghold of Dahngrest, so she supposed it made sense to see a Union ship the closer they got. She got the ship in her view and adjusted the telescope slightly to make it clearer. The ship appeared to be a frigate similar to their own, if a bit smaller. She noticed something odd right away, though. "Why are their sails down?" There was a strong breeze and their own ship was making good time, so it didn't make sense that the other ship would just sit there.

"For the same reason they've tied a knot in their flag," Flynn said. "Do you see it?"

"Uh…" she tightened the telescope, trying to bring out more detail. "Oh! Yes." At the highest mast was a piece of red fabric trimmed in white, tied in a knot in the middle.

"That's the Union ensign," Flynn said. "It means they're from a guild, but not part of the official Altosk fleet."

"So why did they tie it in a knot?"

"It's a sign of distress," Flynn said. "The ship must have taken damage. Based on the direction they're coming from, I'd guess they didn't weather the storm as well as we did. They're asking for help, from whomever sees them first."

Estellise lowered the telescope. "We have to help them!"

"Of course," Flynn said. "Leaving fellow sailors to founder is not an option. Sodia, tell the men to set a course for the ship."

"Are you sure, sir?" Sodia asked. "It could be a trap."

"If they were trying to lure us in with a fake flag, an imperial flag asking for help would be more compelling. Run up a white flag to signify we're approaching under peace."

"Yes, sir!" Sodia saluted again, and ran off to relay the orders. Estellise thought it was kind of funny that both Flynn and Sodia seemed to consistently forget that she wasn't technically in the navy.

Flynn left her alone to go deal with running the ship. Estellise hurried to the bow of the ship as it angled toward the distant ship, excited to watch their approach.

* * *

It took about an hour to reach the distant ship. Before reaching the ship, Flynn prepared himself in his formal uniform, complete with a powdered wig. He didn't wear it at sea very often, both because the salty air ruined it, and recently because Estellise said he looked silly in it and always tried to mess with the ribbon holding back the ponytail. When his ship, the _Endurance_, drew close enough to the foreign ship, Flynn was able to make out the name painted on the side of the ship in peeling paint: _Brave Vesperia._

Flynn stood by the port railing, looking across to the crew of the_ Brave Vesperia_ gathered on deck. "Good day!" Flynn called. "I see you are in need of assistance?"

A man from the other ship leaned over the railing and called, "Why, if it isn't Captain Flynn! Boy, we are in luck." The man wore a grin and a rough black shirt, with long dark hair hanging loose down his back.

Flynn frowned. "Do you know me?" Flynn searched his memory, trying to find the nagging thought at the back of his head. _Did_ he know this man? He looked vaguely familiar, but he couldn't place it.

The man stared at him for a few seconds, and Flynn could have sworn he looked disappointed about something. This quickly snapped back to a casual grin. "Of course; who hasn't heard of the navy's shiniest captain?"

A boy next to him punched his arm. "Yuri! Be nice; they're here to help us."

Yuri seemed reluctant to be nice, but the boy glared at him and he dropped his grin. "Alright, yeah, we could use some help. We got hit pretty bad in the storm last night and we're taking on water. We've got it patched for now, but we don't have the supplies for a proper fix and I'm not sure if it will hold to the next port."

Flynn nodded. "We have the materials to spare. May we board your ship to give assistance?"

"Be our guest," Yuri said.

Flynn nodded to his sailors, who went about preparing a gangplank to cross the ship. The long board stretched over the water, while the crew of the_ Brave Vesperia_ helped secure it on their side. Estellise stepped up to Flynn just as he was about to cross.

"Lady Estellise," Flynn said, "I think you should remain-"

"I want to go too," she said.

She set her jaw and glared at Flynn, who caved easily under her determined expression. He knew she had spent her entire life cooped up in the castle, and he'd often thought it wasn't fair to her. Of course she wanted to visit the new ship, and it would probably be good for her to have some new experiences. In a low voice, he said, "Very well, but don't tell them you're a princess and stay close to me."

She grinned and bobbed her head, and then stepped onto the plank behind Flynn.

Flynn stepped down, and then turned to give Estellise his hand to help her down as well. When she was on the ship, she looked around in awe, a huge smile on her face. Flynn surveyed the ship with a bit more professionalism. On one hand, it looked a lot like the _Endurance_. There was a deck and sails and rigging, and a crew that looked tired and rough around the edges. On the other hand, there were subtle differences. The first thing he noticed were the women, standing alongside the male sailors like they thought nothing of it. The wood of the ship was older, too. It wasn't as polished, and in places it seemed be barely holding together.

While a handful of Flynn's crew crossed behind them, Flynn stepped forward to the man he'd spoken to previously and stuck out his hand. "Good day to you. I am Captain Flynn Scifo, although it seems you already know of me. Are you the captain of the vessel?"

The man glanced down for a second at the messy-haired boy who stood beside him, and then stuck out his hand. "I am. My name is Yuri Capel."

Yuri… Once again Flynn tried to place the man in his memory. He had definitely known a Yuri at one point in his life, but his last name hadn't been Capel. It wasn't an unheard of name, so it must just be a coincidence. "I know those in the Union don't like asking for imperial help, so we'll make this quick and be on our way."

"Yeah," Yuri said. "No offense, but I was kind of hoping it'd be another guild ship who saw our signal first."

"I understand." He'd feel awful if one of his naval ships had to ask for help from the Union, so it was easy to understand how the opposite must feel. "Where is your ship damaged?"

The boy standing next to Yuri piped up. "It's in the hold. I'll show you the way!"

Flynn looked to his men. "Follow him, and give this ship everything they need to get moving again."

One of his men saluted. "Yes, sir!" he said, and then the rest of them followed the boy, carrying supplies of wood, nails, hammers, and buckets of tar.

Yuri watched them go, and then turned his attention back to Flynn. "We'll pay you."

"That's not necessary," Flynn said with a smile. "It's our duty to help a fellow ship in need."

"Don't bother protesting," said a girl leaning against the railing. With an annoyed look on her face and her arms crossed, she said, "Yuri won't let you leave until you take his money. I think it's pretty dumb, because I'd to hold onto our money ourselves, but that's this idiot for you."

Yuri glared at her. "Hey, shut up, Rita."

Estellise leaned around Flynn to see who was talking. "Hello," she said. "Are you part of this ship's crew?"

Rita looked over at her. "So what if I am?"

"It's just, there aren't any women in the imperial navy. Are you a professional sailor?"

Rita glared at her. "What? You got a problem with that?"

"Not at all!" Estellise said with a smile. "I think it's wonderful. I think it would be great if woman in the Empire had more opportunities."

Flynn smiled at her enthusiasm. Estellise was certainly an exceptional girl. She'd used all her spare time in the castle to read every book she could get her hands on, and then against all protestations from the Council, she'd apprenticed herself to the castle physician. She may not be officially recognized as a doctor, but Flynn knew she had enough training to pass any and all exams if she was allowed to take them. Most of the Council thought it was indecent for a woman to be a doctor, but Flynn couldn't be more proud of her.

Estellise passed Flynn to stand closer to Rita. "So, have you been with the ship for very long?"

"Yeah, since the beginning," Rita said. "Why do you care?"

"I think it's so exciting," Estellise said, her eyes wide with adventure. "How far have you travelled? Have you seen much of the world?"

"I don't know, I guess," Rita said.

While Estellise hounded Rita for details about their travels, Flynn turned his attention to Yuri. "So, what brings you to these waters? Are you part of Fortune's Market?"

Yuri crossed his arms and shifted his weight. "Yeah… something like that." He glanced over his shoulder, and said, "I'm gonna go check on Karol. Rita, you hold the fort up here."

Rita pried her eyes away from Estellise long enough to say, "Yeah, ok." Yuri stalked off, and Rita looked over at Flynn. "Don't take it personally. He doesn't like the navy."

"I see," Flynn said. He got the impression that it had been more than simple dislike. When Yuri left, he'd seemed somewhat defensive, almost nervous. Flynn's military brain thought this was suspicious, and wondered just why Yuri would be so uncomfortable around a navy officer. He didn't want to jump to conclusions and think the worst of people, but in his experience, the only people who turned defensive and nervous around the navy were the people who had something to hide. He didn't like the suspicious glances the rest of the crew kept giving Flynn's men, either. Flynn hadn't become a captain by being an idiot, and now his instincts were on alert. Something wasn't right here, although he didn't get the feeling that they were in danger. In any case, he'd keep a close eye on Lady Estellise.

For her part, Estellise seemed totally oblivious to the bad vibes Flynn was getting. She was engaged in conversation with Rita, who had perked up now that the topic had shifted to cannons. Estellise bobbed her head along in confused enthusiasm as Rita told her all about the various cannons on their ship, how they compared to larger ships, and the technical specifications of gunpowder. Flynn was a bit alarmed at this young woman, who couldn't be more than seventeen, having such an intense interest in deadly weaponry, but at least she had a hobby.

"Is something wrong, sir?"

Flynn looked over as Sodia approached him. In a low voice, careful not to be overheard by the _Vesperia_'s crew standing around, he said, "I'm not sure. I feel… uneasy."

"I know what you mean," she replied softly. "That Yuri character seemed downright antsy about associating with the navy, and I overheard that cabin boy giving orders to the crew like he was a captain."

"I don't feel that we are in any pressing danger, but I will be glad to be on our way again."

Sodia nodded, and glanced over at Estellise. "Are you sure it's wise to allow the princess on board?"

Flynn frowned. "I'm beginning to regret allowing her, but at this point, if I told her to return to the _Endurance _she'd likely make a fuss and I'd prefer to avoid making a scene."

"I understand, sir."

Flynn looked around the deck with apprehension. He had no solid proof that this ship was anything less than lawful, but he was on edge. Assisting fellow sailors at sea was a seaman's duty, even if they were from a rival political faction, but that duty didn't extend to pirates. Not only would he feel terrible for inadvertently assisting enemies to society, if the Admiralty found out he'd helped pirates, he would be in a lot of trouble. "Sodia," he said softly, "do me a favour and look around the ship. Look for anything suspicious, and report back to me."

Sodia gave a tight nod, said, "Yes, sir," and walked away. She was the best person for this job, since she wasn't officially part of his crew. Just in case she got into trouble snooping around, her actions weren't officially his responsibility and he knew she could hold her own. She'd knocked him down while sparing as children often enough.

"Flynn," Estellise said, turning back to him from her conversation with Rita, "I'm going to go downstairs with Rita and see the gun deck, ok?"

"You - what?" Dammit, he'd _just_ been thinking about how important it was to keep her close by. "I'm not sure that's a good idea."

Estellise pouted. Ah, dammit, he hated it when she did that. "Please, Flynn? I just want to look."

Flynn frowned. "We have cannons on our ship as well. They're no different."

"Yes," Estellise said, "but whenever I went down there, everyone told me the gun deck was no place for a lady and shooed me out before I could learn about the cannons."

"Ah…" This didn't actually surprise him at all. He could always order his men to teach Estellise about cannons when they got underway again, but it wasn't as if the gunners had a lot of downtime to spare and it seemed like an abuse of power to force them to spend their free time showing Estellise around. Flynn would do it himself if he had the time to spare, or sufficient knowledge about cannons to be useful. "Well… alright, but I'm going with you."

Her face brightened. "Yay! Thank you, Flynn!"

Flynn sighed with a bemused smile, wondering if he was ever going to learn how to resist her puppy eyes. "Lieutenant Tobias," Flynn said, looking back across the water to his own ship to his second-in-command. "Please take command up here while I accompany Lady Estellise below decks."

Tobias saluted, "Yes, sir!" and then they followed Rita across the deck to the stairs down to the gun deck. Flynn went down first, because he wasn't going to let the princess walk down into the dark where there could potentially be an ambush.

The deck was dark after the bright sunlight above, but enough light filtered through the cannon ports that once his eyes adjusted he could see just fine. What he saw was that the deck was almost completely empty, save for Yuri sitting on a barrel chatting with a young woman. Yuri paused when he saw them, and looked up with a frown. "Oh. What are you guys doing here?"

"I'm showing Estellise the cannons," Rita said, striding forward. Considering Yuri was her captain, she certainly didn't show him a lot of respect.

Estellise started to follow, but she paused halfway across the room and stared at Yuri's companion with wide eyes. "Oh! Are you a Krityan?"

The woman raised an eyebrow. "Is it so hard to tell?"

"Oh, I'm sorry," Estellise said, one hand covering her mouth. "It's just, I've never met a Krityan in person before."

"Oooh, how exciting; I feel so special. My name is Judith."

Estellise curtsied with a smile. "My name is Estellise. It's very nice to meet you."

Judith glanced Flynn's way, and he quickly averted his eyes. It was rude to be caught staring, but the truth was that he had very little experience with Krityans either. He knew all the stories, of course. It was said that Krityans were servants of the goddess, and that when you died they carried your soul to paradise on the bottom of the sea. Most people didn't think that was true of _all_ Krityans, since many of them were obviously mortal and could be found scattered around the Great Sea living like humans, but there was certainly something mystical about their ability to switch from legs to fins at will.

Flynn stood back with his arms crossed as Rita showed Estellise around one of the cannons, pointing out all the parts and how it worked. Estellise nodded eagerly along, and even if Flynn wished Estellise would be a bit more cautious, he was glad to see her enjoying herself. He'd befriended her while living in the castle immediately after leaving the Naval Academy, and he knew her lack of freedom made for a boring life. A safe life, yes, but a boring one.

"So, Flynn," Yuri said, leaning back against the main mast in the middle of the room, "it seems I can't get rid of you. How're things in the navy?"

Flynn tore his eyes away from Estellise, wondering why this man was speaking to him so familiarly. "Fine, thank you," he replied stiffly.

"I hear you're the navy's rising star. You sure have come a long way from the lower quarter."

Flynn frowned. "How do you know I grew up in the lower quarter?"

Yuri shrugged. "Everyone's talking about you. 'Oh, Captain Flynn's so great', 'Captain Flynn's from the lower quarter but I bet he'll be admiral some day!'"

"I see." He was a bit embarrassed to hear that people were talking about him so much. He was just doing his job. Yes, he had big dreams and high aspirations, and a promise to fulfil for an old friend, but it wasn't like he went around announcing them and showing off.

Footsteps came down the stairs and Sodia appeared. She glanced warily at Yuri and said in a low voice, "Captain, I need to speak to you privately."

He nodded once. "Of course." He followed her back up the steps to the main deck, and they stood off to the side to speak in low voices. Flynn kept one ear trained on the stairs, in case Estellise called to him. "Did you find something?"

"Captain… these men are pirates," Sodia said, her fists tightly clenched.

Flynn's heart skipped a beat. Dammit. "How are you sure?"

"I found a black flag stowed further below. I don't recognize it, so I don't think they're part of the Blood Alliance, but it's a pirate flag, I'm sure of it."

"Right," Flynn said, nodding slowly. He ought to kick himself. "Don't make a commotion. We're going to finish this job quickly and quietly and then be on our way." At this point, calling off their help would only cause problems. If the crew of the _Brave Vesperia _knew they'd been found out, they had no reason to continue being friendly. Ordinarily Flynn wouldn't worry about a scuffle with pirates, because he knew his men were better armed and trained and they had a superior ship, but with Estellise in his custody, he didn't want to risk any confrontation. There were always casualties in a battle, and he couldn't allow her to come to any harm.

"Sir, are we actually going to continue helping them?" Sodia's face was white and her hands shook.

"We don't have any other choice right now."

"But…"

Her face was tense, and understanding clicked in Flynn's brain. It had only been three months since pirates killed Ivan; no wonder the thought of pirates was such an emotional issue for her. Flynn regretted sending her to investigate in the first place. "Perhaps you should return to the _Endurance_."

Sodia took a deep breath. "No, sir, I'm fine."

"You're not thinking clearly, Sodia," Flynn said. This was a delicate issue, and he couldn't afford someone emotionally compromised igniting a confrontation. "I would prefer if you-"

A shout from Estellise grabbed both their attentions. Without another word, Flynn ran for the stairs, Sodia right behind him. He barged onto the gun deck, just in time to see Estellise on the ground with Yuri leaning over her. In seconds, his panic died and understanding settled across his brain. Estellise had clearly tripped, no doubt from scurrying around the cannon with her long skirt catching on something, and Yuri was simply helping her to her feet.

Not everyone was able to think so clearly. "Get away from her!" Sodia yelled, running forward.

"Sodia, wait!" Flynn shouted, reaching out and trying to grab her. Her arm brushed past him, knife in hand. All she saw was another murderous pirate, just like the one who had killed Ivan, assaulting the princess.

Yuri had pulled Estellise to her feet, her wrist still in his hand when he turned his head in surprise. "What-"

Flynn ran forward, but he was too late. Sodia's knife plunged into Yuri's abdomen and Sodia shoved him away from Estellise.

"What are you doing?!" Estellise screamed as Sodia pulled her away from Yuri.

Sodia's whole body shook as she stared at Yuri, who stumbled into the cannon. Rita caught him before he hit the ground and slowly lowered him to the floor. She looked to Sodia with fury and shouted, "What the hell was that for?!"

With perfect timing, Karol and the sailors who'd gone to fix the hull emerged from the stairs across the room. Karol froze at the top of the stairs, and Flynn had about five seconds of complete calm to try to figure out what to do before chaos erupted. The _Vesperia'_s crew reached for their weapons only seconds before Flynn's crew did. Karol ran forward with terror in his eyes, while Sodia slowly backed away from Yuri, who leaned against Rita's support taking shallow breaths.

"I…" Sodia said, holding up her hands in shock, "I… I didn't… I thought…"

Flynn drew his sword, wishing he hadn't left his pistol in his cabin. The crew of the _Vesperia _certainly hadn't forgotten their pistols, so he wasn't sure what good his sword would be. "Everybody hold your fire!" Flynn bellowed, hoping to at least reach his crew. The last thing he needed was for a fight to break out, especially with Estellise right here.

Karol paused long enough to look back at his crew and said, "Y-yeah! Hold your fire, guys!"

He certainly gave a lot of orders for a cabin boy.

Karol looked from Yuri to Sodia to Flynn, his eyes wide with panic. "What happened?"

"Isn't it obvious?" someone from his crew called. "These imperial bastards snuck onto our ship to assassinate the supposed captain!"

"No!" Flynn insisted. Now that the immediate danger was over, he sheathed his sword and held out his hands. "I assure you, this was not our plan." His sailors had come around to stand behind him, while the _Vesperia'_s crew huddled around the injured Yuri.

"I'm sorry!" Sodia said, more to Flynn than Yuri. "I'm so sorry, sir. I panicked. They're pirates!"

"Pirates?" the word spread through Flynn's crew. Flynn sighed softly; the last thing he needed was for the rest of his men to start attacking.

"Everybody, shut up!" Karol yelled. "Yuri is really hurt! Someone help him!"

"I can help!" Estellise said, running forward. "Can someone please fetch my medicine chest from our ship?"

Flynn mentally swore. He should have known this would happen. It could be worse, though. If they could save Yuri's life, perhaps it would make up for nearly killing him in the first place. At the very least, helping him might convince them not to attack. "Sodia," Flynn said, turning to her, "please return to the _Endurance_ and instruct Lieutenant Tobias to return with Lady Estellise's medicine chest. I would like you to remain on the _Endurance _for the time being."

Sodia nodded, her face white. She hadn't stopped shaking. "Y-yes, sir," she said before turning and rushing away.

To the rest of his men, he said, "Everybody else, don't move. We're not going to fight and we're not going to raise a commotion." He looked over to the _Vesperia'_s crew and said, "Lady Estellise is going to heal this man, and then we're going to get off this ship and be on our way. We won't be taking any money from you."

"No," Yuri groaned.

"We will not do business with pirates. If we accept your money we will have to report where it came from. I hope you can understand." To be honest, he was just surprised the pirates hadn't simply attacked and taken the supplies they needed by force. It felt bizarre to have to refuse to take money from pirates.

Yuri didn't seem happy with this. "Dammit, I said take our money. We don't want your ch-charity."

"Shut up, stupid," Rita snapped, her voice tense. "You're dying."

"Lie him down," Estellise said. "But be very careful not to move the knife."

Judith and Rita gently eased Yuri to the floor, Yuri obviously trying very hard to suppress a groan. The front of his shirt was stained with blood, but the knife in the wound kept it stoppered for now. Flynn watched nervously, knowing very well that if Yuri died, he probably wouldn't be able to prevent a fight. Half of him wanted to grab Estellise and evacuate the ship right now, but he knew he'd never be able to convince her to leave. Besides, now that she'd offered to save Yuri, he doubted the _Vesperia_'s crew would let her leave, either. What if she failed? Estellise had a lot of training but little practical experience. If Yuri died under her care… would these pirates hold it against her? The continued stability of this situation was as fragile as Yuri's grip on life.

Lieutenant Tobias ran down the steps. "Sir! Sodia has informed me of the situation."

"Good," Flynn said, taking the wooden box from him. "Everyone remain calm, and we'll get through this." He slowly approached Estellise, making sure the pirates didn't think he was going to try anything. He knelt on the ground next to her and handed her the chest. "Do you need help?"

Estellise nodded. "Yes, I'll need a few extra hands."

"You can save him, right?" Karol asked, crouching by Yuri with tears in his eyes. "He's going to be ok?"

"I…" Estellise faltered, and Flynn tried not to notice how her hands shook as she reached for her medicine chest. "I'm going to do my best. Um… I've never actually done this on my own before. But - but I know I can do it!"

"R-relax, Captain," Yuri said through clenched teeth. "I'll be f-f-fine."

"Please be quiet," Estellise said. "You need to remain still and keep the knife from moving around." She pulled a small pair of scissors out of her box and carefully cut through Yuri's shirt around the knife. Flynn could tell from her knitted eyebrows and the way she lightly bit her lip that she was concentrating deeply, and probably putting a lot of effort into keeping her hands still.

Once she had cut a large hole in his shirt and pulled it away to reveal the wound, Yuri grumbled, "Damn… that was m-my… best shirt."

"Shut _up_, Yuri," Rita said. "I'm gonna kick your ass if you don't stop talking."

Pirates were certainly an odd bunch. Flynn couldn't imagine ever speaking that way to his captain.

Estellise gave Rita a small, thankful smile, and then looked around. "I need a rag or a cloth or something like that. Something to stop the bleeding, preferably clean."

Flynn looked around at the assembled crew, wearing ragged shirts that probably hadn't been washed in weeks. He had little hope that any of the fabric on this ship was anywhere close to clean. Without another thought he slipped his jacket off. "Use this."

Estellise nodded tightly. "If you're alright with ruining it."

He'd rather not, but there wasn't much choice. He hardly valued his jacket's life above another person's, even if that person was a pirate. "It's fine."

"Ok, I'm going to need help," Estellise said. "Rita, when I say go, you need to pull the knife out. Be very careful and pull it out at the exact same angle as it went in. Flynn, as soon as it's out, use your jacket and put as much pressure as you can on the wound to stop the bleeding. I mean, a _lot_ of pressure - don't be afraid to put your whole weight behind it. Got it?"

Flynn nodded once. "Yes, I can do that."

"Ok," Estellise said. She took another deep breath and said softly, "Ok, I can do this… Rita, pull the knife out now."

Rita grabbed the knife and Flynn moved in seconds later. As it slid out, Yuri gnashed his teeth and clenched his fists until his knuckles were white. Flynn pushed his jacket against Yuri's stomach. He leaned forward and pressed down as hard as he could, trying to ignore the chill that ran down his spine as hot liquid soaked through the stiff blue fabric.

"Argh!" Yuri shouted. "Stop pushing on that!"

"Don't stop, Flynn," Estellise said quickly. "You need to stop the blood."

Flynn did as told, trying not to look at Yuri's face. He recalled the pain of bumping a cut on his calf against a table leg, and tried to imagine that magnified by a thousand. He didn't like to think he was the cause of that, but if he didn't keep pushing, Yuri would bleed to death. His jacket was soaked through by now, staining his hands. It seeped up under his palms, warm and sticky.

"That should be good," Estellise said. "Flynn move the jacket but as soon as your hands are free, place them on either side of the wound and keep applying pressure while I put in the sutures. Ok?"

"Alright."

She held up a needle she'd threaded while waiting. "Ok," Estellise said breathlessly, "move your hands now!" He pulled his jacket back and planted his hands on either side of the wound. Estellise leaned forward and used one of her discarded white silk gloves to mop up the blood smeared across Yuri's stomach to reveal the wound. It wasn't very wide, but Flynn could only imagine it was deep. Estellise bit her lip and began the sutures.

Yuri clamped down on his lip to hold in a shout. "Ugh…" he finally managed to get out. "Shouldn't I be d-drunk for this?"

"Sorry," Judith said, sitting by his side and squeezing his hand. "With your alcohol tolerance, you'd bleed to death before we even got you tipsy."

"Is there anything I can do?" Flynn asked.

"Just keep your hands there," Estelle snapped, barely paying him any attention. Her entire focus was on the wound, and she moved as quickly as she could. She didn't seem to care that blood spattered on her white dress, and powered through Yuri's muffled grunts and suppressed moans. Flynn watched her with awe. He'd never actually seen her perform surgery like this before; it was hard to believe she was the same flighty girl who couldn't stand to see anyone in pain. She really was a professional, and it was a crime that no medical boards in the empire would allow her to take the test.

The only noise throughout the gun deck was the distant swell of the ocean and Yuri's pained groans. Both crews watched tensely, every single sailor aware that their current peace was conditional entirely on whether Yuri continued to live. Yuri screwed his eyes shut and gritted his teeth while digging his fingernails into the wooden deck. Flynn felt an ache in his gut just imagining the pain he must be going through.

Estellise tied off one final knot, and then leaned back. "I'm done," she announced, sounding almost as surprised as she was accomplished.

Yuri breathed a sigh of relief, and both crews visibly relaxed.

Karol pried his eyes from Yuri's face and asked, "Is he going to be ok?"

"Um… I think so," Estellise said. "I hope so."

"What do you mean, you 'hope so'?" Rita asked.

"Well, there's still the chance of infection," Estellise said. She pulled a dirty rag out of her chest and wiped down her hands, and then passed it to Flynn to do the same. "I won't know if the wound got infected for a few days, and the stitches need to be removed in about two weeks." She pulled a roll of bandages out of the chest and started unravelling them. "But if everything goes right, he _should_ be fine."

"See?" Yuri breathed, cracking his eyes open. "Told you I'd be fine."

Flynn put the rag down, giving up on getting the rest of the stain off his palms. "I can't apologize enough for what happened. This is no excuse, but I hope you understand that Sodia's fiancé was killed by pirates only three months ago. She… overreacted."

"Pull his shirt up," Estellise said. "I need to wrap these bandages around his wound."

Judith and Rita gently propped Yuri up while Karol pulled his shirt up to fully reveal his stomach. Estellise carefully placed folded cloth over the stitches and then wound long white strips around his torso until the wound was fully covered.

"That's all for now," Estellise said, her hands still firmly pressing down on the wound. Yuri's grimace said he didn't appreciate this.

"Good," Flynn said, standing up. "Now I think everyone would be happy if we were to return to our ship, now."

He started to walk away, but then Estellise said, "Wait."

Flynn froze and closed his eyes with a sinking feeling. He had a good idea of where this was likely going, and he didn't like it.

"I… I should stay," Estellise said.

Flynn turned around. "Lady Estellise, you must know that this isn't an option."

"But as I said, he's not totally healed yet. The dressings need to be changed every couple of hours - every twenty minutes even at first! There's still the risk of infection or internal bleeding, and someone needs to take the stitches out in a couple of weeks, administer pain medication, and make sure he's eating right."

Flynn sighed. "I understand, Estellise, but we cannot stay here for two weeks. I'm sure Mr. Capel's crew doesn't want us sticking around for that long."

There was a mumbled agreement from the gathered crew.

"Well… maybe not all of us," Estellise said. "But, maybe I could stay? You and the _Endurance_ can move on to Heliord and inform Admiral Alexei of my delay, and I'll stay behind to take care of this man until he's fully healed."

"That is not an option," Flynn said. "I can not leave you alone with pirates!" He glanced at the crew and added, "No offense."

Judith shrugged. "Fair enough."

Estellise's lips turned down in that defiant little frown she did. No, absolutely not, he wouldn't cave to her pleading this time. "I have to stay, Flynn. It's my fault he got hurt. If I hadn't come down here, if I had stayed on the ship like you asked, this never would have happened! If he dies, it's my fault. I have to fix this!"

Flynn felt like pointing out that if the problem had been caused by her disobeying his orders about staying on the _Endurance_, perhaps the best way to fix it would not be by disobeying his orders about staying on the _Endurance_. He already knew she wouldn't go along with that, though. He always got the feeling that whenever she listened to his advice, it was more because it already went along with what she was planning on doing, rather than actually listening to him. He tried another angle. "I'm sure Mr. Capel doesn't want the navy hanging around, either. Isn't that right, Captain Capel?"

"I don't mind," Karol said. "If Yuri is in trouble, then please, stay!"

"Uh, I was speaking to Mr. Capel, but thank you for your input," Flynn said.

"What do you think, Yuri?" Judith asked. "You're the one who needs the doctor."

Yuri didn't answer. "Yuri?" Karol said, looking down at his still face. "Yuri!"

Estellise gasped and reached a hand out to check his pulse at his neck. After a tense few seconds, her shoulders relaxed and she breathed a sigh of relief. "It's alright, he's asleep. He's just passed out from the pain and stress."

"Who is the second in command here?" Flynn asked, looking around. Surely whoever it was would agree with him.

Karol raised his hand slowly. "Uh, actually, I'm the captain."

Flynn frowned. "Pardon?"

"I'm Captain Karol Capel," he said, standing up.

Flynn's frown deepened. "But… I was told this man was the captain."

Karol nodded. "Yuri says he's the captain when we're dealing with other ships, because… well… I'm fourteen. But I'm the captain."

Flynn looked around, waiting for any of the crew to disagree and tell the kid to stop messing around. All them were nodding in agreement, though. Flynn looked to the boy with shock. "Well then."

"And, as the captain," Karol said, "if Estellise is willing to stay and take care of Yuri until he's better, than I'd like to invite her."

"See, Flynn?" Estellise said, looking up at him. "They need me."

"It's too dangerous," he said.

"You could stay, too," Judith said, and then glanced to Karol. "As long as Karol's alright with it."

Karol nodded. "Yeah, that's fine. Well, not all of you. I really don't think Yuri would like it if a whole bunch of navy sailors stayed on our ship. But you and Estellise can stay."

"I'm staying, Flynn," Estellise said. "I've decided. I cannot in good conscience walk away while my patient is still in need of care. You can either stay with me, or go back to the _Endurance_ without me."

Flynn stared at her, hoping to find a hint of wiggle-room in her eyes. He should have known better than to hope. What choice did he have? The idea of picking Estellise up and dragging her kicking and screaming back to the _Endurance_ played through his mind, but he quickly rejected it. He was not the kind of man who would force a dear friend of his to go somewhere against her will. Leaving without her was similarly not an option. He could hardly imagine sailing into Heliord and confronting the admiral only to tell him he'd left the princess behind with some pirates. He sighed heavily, "I suppose I have no other choice." He turned to Tobias and said, "Have someone bring Lady Estellise's and my own belongings on board. The pair of us will be departing from the _Endurance_."

Shocked murmurs ran through his crew. "But… sir," Tobias said, "what about our mission?"

"In my absence," Flynn said, "you will take command of the _Endurance_. I will write a letter for you to deliver to Admiral Alexei in Heliord explaining the situation. Once this man is fully healed, we will disembark at the nearest port and I will secure passage to Heliord to meet with the admiral as planned."

Tobias frowned. "He's not going to like this, sir."

"No, I doubt he will," Flynn said, already preparing himself for the reprimand that surely awaited him. "But it is what it is." He looked over at Estellise and said, "Well, Estellise, it looks like for the time being you and I will be joining the _Brave Vesperia_."


	2. The High Seas

**Chapter Two: The High Seas**

Yuri woke up, and then decided that this had been a very poor decision. He was no stranger to pain, but out of all injuries he'd picked up over the years, this took the cake. He took a deep breath through his teeth, but that had also been a poor decision because deep breaths aggravated his abdominal muscles. Ow. Ow. Ow. A deep throbbing ache took hold in his mind, making it impossible to concentrate on anything else. It was like trying to look at an idyllic pond with a giant alligator dancing around in front of you, if that alligator was also trying to gnaw you in half because oh _fuck_ this _hurt_.

He needed to find something else to focus on. He decided it was about time he figured out where he was, and slowly looked around. He recognized it immediately as the captain's cabin. This cabin didn't get much use, because Yuri preferred sleeping in a hammock with the rest of the crew and Karol felt silly sleeping up here all alone. It had the most comfortable bed on the ship, though, which he couldn't really appreciate now. He was pretty sure he wouldn't notice a lumpy mattress when he was busy dealing with a burning metal pole skewering his abdomen. Dammit, he was trying to avoid thinking about that!

There was someone else in the room. He'd only just noticed her, but that girl from before was sleeping in a wooden chair by his bed. Through the haze of pain, he couldn't quite remember her name. Estelle-something. "Hey," he croaked, hoping for a distraction. "Hey… Estelle?" Why was she in his room? Shouldn't she be back with the navy? He couldn't be too mad at her, though. After all, from what he remembered, she'd saved his life. "You awake?"

"Hm…?" She slowly opened her eyes and looked around the room in confusion. "What… oh! Yuri, you're awake!"

"Unfortunately," he grumbled. He couldn't concentrate on anything. Every thought that crossed his mind was punctuated by a reminder that he was in pain. Oh, when he got his hands on that bitch who'd stabbed him…

"Are you in a lot of pain?" she asked.

Yuri slowly turned his head to glare at her. "What the h-hell do you think?" A wave of pain caught his breath. He'd been trying to keep his voice steady, and his failure would have annoyed him if he had any emotions to spare beyond the all-encompassing agony.

"Here, let me give you something for that," she said, turned in her seat to rustle around in her medicine chest. Yuri still couldn't remember her name, and decided that Estelle was close enough. She pulled out a dark glass bottle and a small cup, and poured a tiny amount of a brown liquid into it. "Drink this," Estelle said, handing it to him. "It will make you feel better."

Yuri didn't even ask what it was. He didn't care. He'd drink piss if someone told him it would make the pain go away. He downed the entire glass in one swig, and then burst into a coughing fit as his face wrinkled up in horror. Oh hell, maybe that _had_ been piss. The coughing caused his abdominal muscles to clench, which sent fresh stabs of fire shooting through his body. He clutched his gut and choked out, "Are you t-trying to kill me!?"

"I'm sorry!" Estelle said. "I know it tastes bad. It's laudanum - it will make your pain go away."

"Great," he said through clenched teeth. Sharks had been known to give more convincing smiles. "When does it st-start?"

"It takes a few minutes to kick in."

"Ok." He bit down on his lip to smother a moan of pain. To keep himself distracted, he tried to ask, "What are you… doing here? Shouldn't you be back with the navy?"

"I'm staying here until you're better," she explained. "Flynn is with me too, but the rest of the navy has moved on."

"Flynn's here? Great." Flynn… what an idiot. The moron didn't even recognize him. Yeah, it had been thirteen… more like fourteen years since they'd seen each other, but he'd certainly recognized his old friend at first glance. He would be hurt, if he had any pain to spare on anything other than his stomach.

Estelle stood up and said, "I'm going to go find Karol. He wanted to know when you woke up."

"Yeah. Ok. Thanks, E-Estelle."

She paused on her way out and tilted her head to the side. "Estelle?"

Oops, that wasn't actually her name. Whatever, he was in too much pain to care. It really wasn't fair; he'd been stabbed in the gut, so why did his entire body ache? It was like there was too much pain for one small area to contain, so the rest of his muscles shared the load. "Whatever your name is," he grumbled.

"Um… right! I'll go find Karol." She hurried away and left the room.

Yuri stared at the wooden ceiling to distract himself. He tried to tell himself that he'd had worse, even if he knew that was false. It felt like the knife was still in there, sending constant burning throbs of agony through his torso. He was painfully aware of every second trickling by, making minutes feel like hours. He didn't like being in this much pain; it made him feel weak and pathetic. Anyone could just walk in here and finish him off and he couldn't even raise a sword to defend himself. Surely the laudanum should have kicked in by now. In fact, it probably had, but those few tiny drops hadn't been enough to deal with this level of pain. It was ridiculous, now that he thought about it. Like expecting a couple drops of water to fill a bucket.

He turned his head and eyed the bottle still sitting on the table by the bed. She had _not_ given him enough of that stuff. He reached out with a shaking hand and grabbed the bottle. With great effort, he pushed himself upright with trembling arms and a grimace. Yuri pulled the cork from the bottle and took a swig, trying to ignore the awful bitter taste in his mouth. He swallowed slowly and carefully to avoid coughing again, and then set the bottle on the table and collapsed into the pillow. Hopefully that would make a difference.

He stared at the ceiling, waiting for it to kick in. He analyzed the grain of the wood, hoping to distract himself from his gut. As he lay still, a fuzzy, numb feeling gradually took hold in his brain. Oh… that was nice. He slipped into a bathtub filled with warm marshmallows as light washed over the world. Pain slipped away, along with any of his concerns about the navy or Flynn. This was great. He was great. Everything was great. His chest swelled with a sudden deep understanding and love for every person he had ever hated. The world was warm and soft and full of love and he was content to lie there with a smile as he watched the ceiling spin in circles.

The door opened, and he didn't even look away from the ceiling as he announced, "Estelle, I am floating." The bed had fallen away and instead his weight was supported by a fluffy cotton cloud.

Karol stared at him. "Uh… what?"

Yuri pried his eyes away from the ceiling and stared. He'd been expecting to see Estelle. This was not Estelle. The dissonance between what he had expected to see and what his eyes actually registered took about thirty seconds to sink into his brain. "You aren't Estelle."

"No, I'm not," Karol said, walking across the room.

"You're Karol." Yes, good. He knew who this person was. He liked Karol. In fact, he loved him.

Karol frowned. "Are you feeling ok, Yuri?"

Karol was clearly concerned about him, but he didn't need to be. He needed to impress upon Karol just how good he felt so that he wouldn't worry. He searched his mind for a word that adequately summed up his euphoric feelings, and settled on, "I'm goooood. Really, _really_ good. I feel great. Except I'm floating."

Karol eyed him with a frown. "Uh, no you're not, Yuri. You're lying in bed."

"No, I'm pretty sure I'm…" his thought trailed away. He couldn't remember what he'd been saying, so he switched back to, "I feel really good."

Karol looked over at the table and picked up the bottle of laudanum. He quickly read the label, and said, "Oh, great. Estellise gave you some of this stuff, didn't she?"

"It's _great,_" he said with a big grin.

"How much did she give you?"

"Not enough. It's really great." He kept forgetting what he was trying to say, and reverted back to how good he felt because that was the only constant in his mind. He felt so good already. What would make him feel even better? _More_. He reached for Karol. "Gimme that."

"I think you've had enough," Karol said, stepping back and holding the bottle away. "How much did you have?"

He held up his hand with his thumb and forefinger about an inch apart. "This much." He wasn't sure how accurate his measuring was, so he kept moving his fingers around to try to find the right amount.

Karol frowned. "Yuri, the label says to take only a few drops."

"That's not… um…" he took a moment to remember what he'd been saying. "Not enough."

"Do you even know what this stuff is?"

"Yes," he said with a blissful smile. "It's happiness."

"This is a mixture of alcohol and opium," Karol said, setting the bottle down far out of Yuri's reach. This annoyed Yuri for about two seconds, until his capacity to feel irritation faded away under a happy fuzz. "I'm not sure if you're drunk or high."

Yuri giggled. "Both?"

"You took more than Estellise told you to, didn't you?"

"Shhhh." He tried to pull his finger to his lips, missed, and poked his eye. "Ow." It didn't really hurt. Nothing hurt. Well, it did hurt, but the pain was very far away and didn't seem to matter any more.

Karol frowned at him, and Yuri was struck by the terror that Karol didn't like him anymore. No, why was he upset?! He shouldn't be upset; Yuri felt really, really good. "Karol… Karol I love you."

"What? Yeah, I love you too, Yuri."

Yuri suddenly realized that he didn't think he'd ever told Karol how much he loved him before. He had to fix this! Karol was like a brother to him, and how much he loved him swelled up inside him like a bubble, pushing all other thoughts out of his mind. They weren't difficult to move. "I really, _really_ love you, Karol. I love you… I love you more than… " He trailed off, losing track of where he was going with that sentence. He tried to remember, and then got distracted by the pattern on the curtains over the window. He smiled, all thoughts pushed from his mind as he lay there in blissful contentment.

"Are you_ sure_ you're ok, Yuri?"

He suddenly remembered that Karol was in the room. He tore his gaze from the curtains and asked, "Why does your hair go up, Karol?"

"My… hair?"

"It goes up." He held his hands up to his head and gestured upward to get his point across. "How does it… uh…. It works. Why?"

"I don't know," Karol said. "It just doesn't lie flat. Maybe you should go to sleep, Yuri."

"Noooo," he whined. He felt so fucking great, why would he go to sleep now? This was the happiest he'd ever felt in his entire life; he didn't want to waste it.

"I think I'm going to go."

"Don't go. I love you." He reached out and grabbed Karol's wrist.

Karol easily pried his grip off. That wasn't supposed to happen; shouldn't he be stronger than Karol? "I'm going to go let Rita and Judith know that you're… sort of ok."

"I'm not ok," Yuri said. "I'm _great_. That's important. Really, really great."

"Yeah, sure, Yuri." He started backing toward the door.

"Waaait," Yuri said. "Tell Flynn… I wanna see Flynn. I like Flynn."

"What, the navy officer?" Karol said with a frown. "But Yuri, you hate the navy."

Hate? He didn't hate anybody. How could he hate anybody when the world was so warm and sunny? The whole world was filled with wonderful people and they were all great just like opium was great. What had he been talking about again?

"Yuri?" Karol asked. "Are you still listening to me?"

He blinked and stared at Karol. "Uh… what?"

"Flynn. Why do you want to see Flynn?"

Memory sparked. "Oh! I want to see Flynn."

"I _know_ you want to see him," Karol said. "I'm asking you _why, _because usually you hate the navy."

No, no, no, no, he didn't hate Flynn. He didn't hate anybody. Wait, hadn't he already gone down this trail of thought? He was pretty sure he had and it had led to confusion. Right, Flynn, he _especially_ didn't hate Flynn. "No, I love Flynn. He's my Flynn."

"Your… wait, Yuri, are you saying he's the same Flynn you used to know?"

Yuri bobbed his head. He couldn't think of the words to properly explain who Flynn was, so he hoped Karol could figure it out by saying, "_My_ Flynn." He giggled to himself, wondering if Flynn would appreciate the spinning walls more than Karol did. "But he doesn't know," Yuri said. "He's so dumb… he doesn't rememem…" he got lost in the word for a few seconds. "Remember me." He laughed again, and through the laughs he forced out, "Don't - don't tell him. This is hilarious. I wanna… I gotta see how long it takes him… he's so dumb…" His own memories weren't too clear at the moment, because he couldn't seem to wrap his mind around any sort of memory longer than a minute ago, but he remembered Flynn.

"Right, uh… I'll go get him. You stay there." Karol grabbed the bottle of laudanum to take with him.

"No, bring it back," Yuri said, reaching for it. If this was how great he felt after how little he'd had, he could only imagine how much more great he'd feel after drinking the entire bottle.

"You've had enough."

"But Karol, I love you." He reached for the bottle, but his hand closed on empty air. Huh, apparently Karol was farther away than he thought.

"I'll see you later, Yuri."

He walked out, and Yuri dropped his head against the pillow. He was upset for a second, and then it fizzled away into a haze of bliss. He couldn't stay mad long. He was just so, _so_ happy.

* * *

Flynn stood on the deck of the ship, looking out at the ocean and wondering if he'd made the right decision. It was too late to change his mind now, because the _Endurance_ wasn't even a speck in the distance anymore. He wasn't a prisoner, he told himself. He was here by choice… technically… and he and Lady Estellise would leave in a couple of weeks as soon as Yuri was well again… hopefully. The pirates so far didn't know Estellise was a princess, but would they be so willing to let her walk away if they found out? They seemed pretty amicable so far, but they were still pirates.

Admiral Alexei was going to be displeased with him, but he hoped he'd be understanding. Alexei was a reasonable man, after all. He didn't know what else he could have done. He'd been given the option of kidnapping Estellise, abandoning her, or joining her. Even still, he'd felt terrible watching the _Endurance_ sail away, and the threat of court-martial hung over his head.

"Hey, Flynn," Karol said, walking across the deck toward him.

Flynn looked down at him. "Good evening, Captain." He still found it bizarre that this boy was the captain. And he thought _he_ had become a captain at a young age.

"Yuri is awake. He says he wants to see you."

"How is he fairing?"

"Uh… hard to say," Karol said with a frown. "Estellise gave him some laudanum to help with the pain, and now he's kind of loopy."

"Ah… well, lead the way."

"Right, follow me."

As they walked across the deck, Flynn asked, "He gave his name as Yuri Capel, and you are Karol Capel. Are you related?"

"Sort of," Karol said. "We're kind of like… brothers, only not by blood."

"How long have you been the captain of this ship?"

"About three years now," Karol said as they walked down the steps to the gun deck. "We got the ship from Fortune's Market."

"And you decided to turn pirate," Flynn said, crossing toward the stern and the captain's room. He hadn't intended it to be judgemental, but he couldn't keep the tone out of his voice.

Karol looked over his shoulder with a frown. "Actually, we're privateers."

"Oh, of course." As far as Flynn was concerned, there wasn't much difference. Privateers were given authority by Altosk to attack imperial ships, whereas pirates attacked anyone, empire or Union. To Flynn, he considered them all pirates, just some of them were pirates who attacked each other as well. He was interrupted from his thoughts when he heard a growl. The gun deck was dark, since the sun was almost down and there weren't any lanterns lit, but in the dim light, a glowing eye rose from the floor. Flynn took an involuntary step back, led by a deep instinct to run away from anything that looked and sounded this much like an angry wolf.

"Hey, Repede," Karol said. "It's just us."

Flynn's eyes adjusted to the light more and he was able to make out the form of a large dog curled up protectively outside the door. The dog barred its teeth and glared at him with its one good eye. It's other eye was hidden under an eye-patch. "You, uh, have a wolf on board, then?"

"He's not a wolf," Karol said. "He's Repede. He's our dog."

"Why do you have a dog on a ship?" He could understand a ship cat, maybe. They could take care of the rats. But a dog? They contributed nothing and ate food supplies, not to mention they brought bad luck in general.

"Well, we couldn't leave him behind," Karol said, like this explained everything.

"Ah. Of course."

"It's alright, Repede," Karol said. "Yuri asked to see Flynn."

The dog laid down again, but didn't take his eye off Flynn.

"Go on in," Karol said, gesturing to the door. "I wouldn't take anything Yuri says too seriously, though. He's kind of out of it."

"I see. Thank you." Flynn kept one eye on the dog as he opened the door and hesitantly went inside. Yuri lay in bed, staring at the ceiling with a look of intense concentration. "Uh… Mr. Capel?" he asked.

Yuri turned his head, and then broke into a big grin. "Hi."

"How do you feel?" Flynn asked, still standing by the door.

"Reeeeeally great. Come here."

Flynn cautiously approached the bed. He wasn't sure how to deal with this man who was clearly drugged out of his mind. "Do you need something?"

"Yeah," Yuri said. "I need… wait… I need… what was…" He stared at the ceiling again until Flynn was pretty sure he'd forgotten he was even trying to say something.

"Mr. Capel?"

Yuri looked back to him. "Oh, hi."

"Yes, hello, I'm still here. You asked to see me?"

Yuri stared at him with glazed eyes for a few seconds, and then asked, "Why do empire people wear wigs? They look dumb."

"Pardon?" He'd taken his wig off by now and was back to his normal messy blond hair, but apparently Yuri still had it in mind. "I don't know; that's just the fashion."

Yuri didn't answer, just stared at him with that happy grin. It was more than a little unnerving. "Are you certain you're alright?" Flynn asked.

"That's what I need! More laudadeni…denum."

"You can't even say it; I hardly think you need more."

"If you're not going to help, I should kick you off my ship." Yuri frowned at him, but he couldn't hold it for very long before he forgot what he was upset about and started grinning again.

Flynn sighed, pulling up a chair. "There isn't really anywhere else for me to go. Besides, believe me when I say I would like to get off your ship as soon as possible."

"Yeah, gonna kick you off," Yuri said mumbled. "Kick you off and you can… uh… swim home. Yeah. Swim allllll the way back through the, uh, the… the wet… the big wet… the big blue wet thing."

"The… ocean?"

"Yeah." He closed his eyes and smiled. "That."

"Right," Flynn said slowly. Falling overboard would be very dangerous, considering he, like most people, had never learned to swim. However, he didn't feel at all threatened by a drugged, wounded man rambling about the 'big blue wet thing'.

"Nah, don't worry," Yuri said, his smile spreading. "I wouldn't do that to you. You're too pretty."

Flynn frowned. "Er… thank you?"

"Yeah, you're really handsome. Congratulations on your… uh… everything." He opened his eyes and leaned forward, like he was trying to tell a secret, but he kept his voice just as loud as it had been before. "Just between you and me… you're reeeeally attractive."

Flynn's face flushed and he scooted back in the chair. The empire had some very strict things to say about sodomy, and none of them were positive. "Perhaps I should leave now." He didn't need this. Yuri's slurred words stirred up thoughts that Flynn put great effort into smothering.

Yuri burst into laughter. "You should see your face! Oh, wow, you're great. I love you."

Flynn stood up quickly. "You barely know me."

"I don't care. I love you. I can't feel my teeth but I… I… I love you. Right, that's what I was saying."

"I think I should be going now."

"Why does everyone keep leaving me? I'm just… I'm trying to explain… and nobody understands…"

After ten seconds, Flynn asked, "Nobody understands what?"

"What?"

"What does nobody understand?"

Yuri stared at him with no clue what Flynn was talking about. Flynn sighed and, thinking he was probably going to regret reminding him, said, "You just said you were trying to explain something that nobody understands."

"Oh yeah. The world. It's like… it's like warm fuzzy, ok? It's all shiny and we're all connected and it's squishy and bright and… The world is great, see? And everyone is wonderful and I just really love people, ok? I even love Cumore. He's great. I'm great. And opium is _reeeally_ great." He grinned to himself, satisfied with delivering his compelling argument.

Flynn paused in confusion. "Cumore? How do you know Commodore Cumore?"

"Fuck Cumore."

"But I thought you loved Cumore?"

"Riiiight. Yeah. He's not nice. You're nice. I think." He spoke slowly, putting deep thought behind every word and struggling to stay focused. "But you're in the navy, and just… fuck the navy. Yeah," he nodded sagely. "Fuck the navy."

"If you have nothing else to say, I think I'm going to go now," Flynn said, heading for the door.

"Wait," Yuri said, reaching for him even though Flynn was at least ten feet away.

Flynn stopped with a sigh. "What is it?" He'd better not want to tell Flynn he was pretty again. The last thing Flynn needed right now was for some crazy drugged pirate to start stirring up all these feelings he tried so hard to ignore.

"I need to tell you… it's important… what was it…"

"You wanted me to bring you more laudanum, and I refused," Flynn said, hoping this was the end of it.

"No, there's more. It was… um… oh yeah! If you hurt Karol or any of the rest of the crew then… then I love you but I have to kill you. Ok?"

Flynn looked over his shoulder, taken aback by the suddenly serious topic. "I will not harm your crew."

"Yeah, but I can't believe you," Yuri said. "You're a navy captain and navy captains are bastards with stupid hair. It's…" he trailed off, staring at Flynn for almost thirty seconds before continuing again. "Oh. Right. I was saying you can't hurt Karol. I love Karol and if you hurt him or get this ship in trouble… I'll kill you."

"I understand," Flynn said, wondering if Yuri would even remember this conversation when he came down. "I promise, I have no intention of bringing harm to you or your crew."

"Good. Ok, goodnight."

"Is there anything else you wanted?"

"Nope," Yuri said. "Go away. I have… um… important stuff to do. Yeah."

Flynn gave him an amused smirk. "What important stuff do you intend to do from bed?"

"I need to… uh… I need to…." He stared blankly at Flynn. "It was… I have important stuff to do."

Flynn sighed. "I'll let you figure that out." Flynn left the room, not entirely sure what to make of that conversation. He'd had less lucid interactions in the past, but not many.

Back outside on the gun deck, Estellise stopped him. "Oh, hello, Flynn. Were you just in to see Yuri?"

"Yes," Flynn said. "It was… interesting."

Estellise frowned. "Karol told me he drank a bit too much laudanum. Is it that bad?"

Flynn tried to put the experience into words, but nothing came to him.

Estellise interpreted his expression easily enough. "Oh dear."

"Is there anything you can do?"

She shook her head. "All we can do is wait for it to wear off. Um… at least he isn't in pain anymore."

"That's something, I guess."

"Flynn… I don't think I thanked you properly for letting me stay."

Flynn raised an eyebrow. "I wasn't aware I had a choice in your decision."

She covered her mouth and giggled. "Well, you could have forced me, but you're not like that."

"No. By the way, I like your new dress."

"Oh, do you?" She smiled and twirled around, although it didn't flare out the way her gowns usually did. "Rita gave it to me. My old one was, um, covered in blood. For being pirates, everyone here is really nice."

"Perhaps a little _too_ nice," Flynn mused, thinking back on Yuri's rambling professions of love.

"When we get to Heliord, I'll tell Admiral Alexei that this was my fault, ok? I'll tell him I forced you to come with me. I won't let you get in trouble for this."

"Thank you for the thought, although I'm not certain how effective it will be." Most of the government didn't think Estellise was much more than a political pawn, so he wasn't sure how easily she could convince them that she'd forced him to stay against his will, but he did appreciate her effort.

"It will be ok, you'll see. I'm going to go check on Yuri and change his bandages, now. I'll see you tomorrow, ok?"

"Alright. Please let me know if I can do anything for you."

"Of course. Goodnight!" She waved and continued on to Yuri's room.

Flynn made his way to the steep stairs to the lower deck. His things had already been put away in the small cabin they'd given him. The ship came with an assortment of cabins for various ship officers, but since their pirate crew had a lot fewer official positions, a lot of them were used as storage. Flynn's cabin was right next to the one they'd given Estellise, and was quite the change from the captain's cabin he'd become accustomed to on the _Endurance_. There was a narrow, hard bunk with drawers underneath, a small porthole, and several barrels of salted fish hastily pushed to the side to make room for him.

Flynn sat down on the bunk with a sigh. The room, little more than a five-foot by six-foot box, was dark. He didn't have a lantern and the sun had set, leaving him with only the small amount of moonlight filtering through the grimy porthole. Estellise, at least, seemed happy. He had a feeling her insistence on staying to help Yuri was partly fuelled by a desire for adventure and to see more of the world than the empire. He could understand her longing, even if it irritated him. There was nothing to do for it now, though, but to go to sleep and hopefully find himself in a better mood in the morning.

* * *

When Flynn woke up, he was initially confused about where he was. As he sat up and looked out the porthole at the muggy grey of dawn, he remembered. Pirates. Right. There was no point sitting around, so he got dressed. He felt under-dressed without putting on his captain's jacket, but that had been thrown out after being soaked in Yuri's blood. What did it matter, anyway? No on this ship recognized his authority, not even Estellise. Once he was ready to go, he realized he didn't actually know what he should do. He wasn't sure if he was here as a passenger, a prisoner, or if he'd joined the crew. Well, he wouldn't figure it out by sitting around, so he got up to go find some breakfast.

The ship was alive with activity, and his passage was ignored. He headed up the stairs to the gun deck to find the galley, but just as he reached the top of the steps he nearly ran into Judith, carrying a tray with a bowl of soup.

"Good morning," she said. "Sleep well?"

"Fair enough," he said. "Where is Captain Capel?"

"I think he's still sleeping," Judith said. "Hey, I have some things to do, would you mind taking this to Yuri?"

"Yes, of course," Flynn said. Actually he didn't want to talk to Yuri at all, but perhaps this morning he'd be a bit more lucid.

"Thanks," Judith said. "Take the dishes back to Hanks in the galley when you're done and you can get some breakfast for yourself."

"Alright." He took the tray from her and she walked away. Flynn cautiously approached the door to the captain's room, keeping one eye on the dog that still sat curled up in front of it. The dog also kept one eye trained on him, and while was no expert on dogs, he could tell what message this one was sending: _If you mess with my human I will rip your throat out_.

Flynn knocked on the door, and got a grunt that sounded like "yeah" as a reply. He took this as an invitation to enter. Inside, he found Yuri lying on his side with his arms wrapped around his stomach, his face screwed up with pain. His blanket lay on the ground and the sheets still on his bed tangled around his legs. He cracked his eyes open and his grimace deepened when he saw Flynn.

"Oh," he grunted. "It's you."

"I brought you breakfast," Flynn said, setting the tray on the table.

"There's a h-hole in my stomach," Yuri said. "I don't want to eat."

"You haven't eaten since yesterday," Flynn said, sitting down in the chair by his bed. "You need to eat to recover your strength."

"If I eat… I feel like I'll throw up," he said. His fingers bunched around the side of his shirt. "That'll hurt."

"You're going to have to risk it," Flynn said. "If you don't eat, your body won't have the strength to repair your wound." Flynn held out a spoonful of broth. "Here, have a few sips at least."

Yuri flung his arm out, smacked the spoon away and splattering soup on the floor. "Stop treating me like an invalid!"

"But you _are_ an invalid," Flynn pointed out. "You can't get out of bed and I don't think you can handle solid foods right now. Just eat your soup."

"I don't want to take advice from you!" He waved his arm around accusingly. "You - it's your fault this happened in the first place! Your woman is the one who -" he gritted his teeth, obviously regretting his violent movement, "who fu-fucking stabbed me." He took short, fast breaths and his clenched fingers shook.

"I can't apologize enough for Sodia's actions."

"You're right; you can't," Yuri snapped. "So get the hell off my boat."

"That's not really possible, since we're at sea," Flynn pointed out.

"So jump overboard and drown."

Flynn smirked and asked, "You mean in the big blue wet thing?"

"Shut the hell up!" Yuri moved his arms and tried to sit up, probably to reach over and punch Flynn, but he didn't get far before freezing up with pain. He fell back onto his pillow and bit down hard on his fist, trying to muffle a cry.

Flynn wanted to be angry with him for telling him to go drown, but it was hard not to feel sympathy for someone who was clearly in excruciating pain. "Would you like me to go find Lady Estellise so she can give you more laudanum?"

Yuri shook his head, and then lowered his hand to say, "No."

"Are you sure?" Flynn asked, glancing worriedly at the deep bite marks on his knuckles. "It will help you deal with your pain."

"No," Yuri said. "I don't like it."

"You seemed to like it yesterday."

Yuri turned his neck enough to glare at Flynn. "I'm not doing that again. Anything I said yesterday…" he knitted his eyebrows together, "forget I s-said it. I don't remember a lot of it but… but that wasn't me."

"Consider it forgotten." Flynn was more than willing to forget about some of Yuri's delusional ramblings. "I really think you should consider taking drugs, though. There's no reason for you to suffer like this."

"No one asked you," he snarled. "Go away."

Flynn frowned. "I'm only trying to help."

"I don't want help from navy bastards." He squeezed his eyes and folded his hands over his stomach. "Leave me alone. You're making my stomach hurt."

Flynn stood up with a sigh. "If you insist." Yuri didn't look up as Flynn left the room. He couldn't really blame Yuri for being so grouchy. He understood that the man was dealing with a huge level of pain and Flynn knew very well that he was in part to blame for that for bringing Sodia onto this vessel in the first place. Still, it took an unheard of amount of stubbornness to refuse medication in his current state.

On his way to the galley, Flynn stopped when he saw Lady Estellise hovering by one of the cannons while Rita cleaned it. Flynn veered off course to go speak with her. "Good morning, Lady Estellise."

She looked over with a smile. "Hello, Flynn. Did you sleep well?"

"Well enough. I was just in to deliver breakfast to Mr. Capel."

"Oh, is he awake?" Estellise asked.

Flynn nodded. "He doesn't want to eat, though. If you go see him, be warned that he's rather grouchy."

Rita snorted. "Don't take it too personally," she said, running her fingers over the cannon and searching for any cracks or problems. "He's terrible when he gets injured. He gets pretty irritable."

"Currently he's refusing medication," Flynn said.

Rita nodded. "Yeah, that sounds like him. Whenever he gets hurt, he tries to act like he's totally fine and that he's such a tough guy who doesn't feel any pain. Obviously he's not, and then he lies around feeling miserable but refusing to let anyone help him."

Estellise frowned and looked over at the door to Yuri's cabin. "Oh, dear… I should go see him and check on his stitches, just in case. Maybe I can talk him into taking a bit more laudanum."

"Don't get your hopes up," Rita said.

"I'm going to see him anyway," Estellise said. "I'll see you later, Rita."

She scurried away to retrieve her medicine chest. Flynn looked to Rita and asked, "I don't suppose you know what I should be doing?" After coming from being the captain, he didn't like suddenly not having a job to do. It made him feel useless.

Rita shrugged. "Don't ask me, all I care about are the guns here. Yuri's usually the ones who organizes jobs, but since he's out of commission you should probably ask Judith."

"Thank you." With nothing else to do, he set off in search of Judith.


	3. Difficult

**Chapter Three: Difficult**

Estellise slipped into the captain's cabin. "Good morning, Yuri," she said softly. "How do you feel?"

"Fine."

Estellise didn't think she had ever heard a more blatant lie. He stared at the ceiling with a look of intense concentration, because even if there was nothing there, focusing on the wooden grain was better than focusing on his wound. "Are you sure you don't want more drugs?" she asked, sitting by his bed.

"I'm sure."

She frowned, not sure what to do. Dr. Dropwart hadn't told her what to do if the patient refused treatment. She ached to help him, but if he wouldn't take the laudanum, she couldn't do anything to help his pain. She looked around the room for inspiration, and her eyes fell on the bowl on the bedside table. "You haven't eaten your breakfast."

"I don't want it," he said without tearing his gaze from the ceiling.

"You have to eat."

"No," he said, scowling petulantly.

She sighed. "Alright, but you have to eat eventually if you want to get better."

"Why are you even here?" Yuri asked.

"I was _going_ to give you more laudanum," she said, crossing her arms.

"No, I mean… on the ship."

"Oh. I'm here to take care of you, of course," she said. "It's my fault you got hurt, so I need to make sure you recover."

Yuri finally turned his head to look at her. She thought he looked confused, though all his expressions were filtered through a mask of pain so it was hard to tell. "Why do you care? You're with the navy."

"Well… of course I care," she said, a bit hurt that he'd think that. "Besides, I'm not technically with the navy. I was just being escorted by them."

"Close enough."

Estellise sat uncomfortably, trying to think of something to do to help. If Yuri wouldn't take any drugs, there had to be something she could do to distract him from his pain. "Um, ok… why don't we just talk?"

"'Bout what?"

"Um…" she looked around the room for inspiration. "Why don't you tell me how you came onto this ship? Have you always been a pirate?"

"I'm not a pirate," Yuri said. "I'm a privateer. There's a difference."

"Oh, I'm sorry. So, how did you become a privateer?"

"It's kind of a long story," Yuri said.

"That's alright. I have nowhere else to be." She was only on this ship to take care of Yuri, so if that meant sitting in here with him all day to keep him talking and distracted, then that's what she'd do.

Yuri sighed. "We got the ship from Kaufman, happy?"

Estellise frowned. "Yuri, that's not what I meant. You're supposed to tell me the story."

"It's not very interesting."

She was starting to get irritated with him, but tried not to. He'd suffered a critical wound only yesterday and with no drugs in his system anymore, the pain must be unimaginable. Putting the effort into chatting had to be difficult, but she knew it would be good for him for precisely that reason. If he had to put effort into focusing on a conversation, it would help distract him from his misery. "Why don't I tell you my story?"

Yuri closed his eyes. "Go ahead."

She spoke quickly, because she couldn't work while telling the story and was eager to get on to that. "I lived in the castle my entire life. I always dreamt about what the world was like, but I only ever saw it from the windows. Then, one day, Admiral Alexei summoned me to a meeting with him in Heliord! I was so excited, because it meant I got to leave the castle and see the world. Flynn was assigned to transport me to Heliord, so I set off with him. Then we saw your ship in distress, and you know the rest." Now that she thought about it, her life story was quite boring. She hoped Yuri didn't think she was dull. She looked down at her hands. "Um… I'm sorry, I just realized my story isn't very exciting."

Yuri pried his eyes open and shifted his head a bit. "What are you apologizing for? It's not your fault if no one ever let you leave the castle."

"Yes, I suppose so." She pushed a smile onto her face and forced herself to move on. "Ok, now that I've told you my story, you _have_ to tell me yours."

"What? I didn't agree to that." He almost looked like he was pouting, which wasn't an expression she expected from someone who came off so strong and gruff.

"It's the rules," Estellise said. "Now you know all about me, but I know hardly anything about you! That puts me at a disadvantage, and that's not fair."

"It's not like I forced you to tell me about yourself or anything."

Estellise crossed her arms and matched Yuri's pout with one of her own. "Why not consider it payment for your medical treatment?"

"What?"

"I used up my supplies, time, and effort to save your life. I don't mind at all, but you were so keen to pay Flynn back for the supplies he gave you, so don't you want to pay me back for my help, too?"

Yuri's pout slipped. "Well…"

"I don't want your money," she quickly clarified. "Just tell me your story."

Yuri closed his eyes and sighed in irritation. "You're not going to give this up, are you?"

She smiled, though he couldn't see it with his eyes close. "Nope!"

"Fine, if it matters so much to you," Yuri grumbled. "Mine's not all that exciting, either, you know."

"And don't think you can cheat and give me a super abridged version. I want the full story!"

"Alright, alright," Yuri said. "Let's see… it started in Dahngrest, I guess. Mary Kaufman of Fortune's Market was looking for - why are you undressing me?"

Estelle paused with his shirt pushed up half his torso. His eyes were open now, looking at her in confusion. "I need to change your bandages and check on your wound," she explained. "Just keep talking and let me work."

"Whatever you say. Anyway, Kaufman was looking for a couple more hands for a trip to Capua Torim, and Karol and I needed to get out of town, so we signed up."

"Why did you need to get out of town?" Estellise asked, unravelling the bandages around his abdomen. She'd already changed them several times since initially applying them, but he'd always been either unconscious or delirious.

"I kind of technically kidnapped Karol."

Estellise's eyes went wide and her hands froze with the bandages half-unravelled. "You - you what?" Her thoughts flashed to Karol, who'd seemed so worried and concerned about Yuri. Oh no, oh no, was that poor little boy a _kidnapping victim_? She'd read that sometimes hostages came to love their captors. That would explain why he'd been so concerned about Yuri. She knew Yuri was a pirate - at least, a privateer - but she hadn't thought he was actually a bad person. Was she in danger from him too?

Yuri saw her panicked face and chuckled, which probably sounded a lot more evil than he'd intended because he was trying not to move his stomach. "Relax, I only _technically_ kidnapped him. Karol and I grew up in the same orphanage in Dahngrest. When I grew up and got out, I planned to find work and earn the money to legally adopt him and get him out too. But… stuff came up. That didn't work out, so I snuck back in and ran he ran away with me. He's with me by choice, but since I'm not his legal guardian, it's technically kidnapping."

"Oh…" Estellise said, putting the used bandages and dressing aside. "I guess that's ok." She inspected the site of the wound, looking for any sign of infection. It wasn't red or swollen, which was a good sign.

"Anyway, we signed up on this ship and set out for Capua Torim. On the way there, though, we got attacked by pirates from the Blood Alliance."

"I thought they weren't pirates but privateers?" she asked while using a small cloth to clean up the little discharge around the wound.

Yuri muscles clenched as he hissed. "Don't touch that!"

"Sorry," she said. "I'm almost done. What about the Blood Alliance?"

"Oh, yeah. They're not privateers, they're straight-up pirates," he said, squeezing his eyes shut and trying to ignore what Estellise was doing. "They d-don't listen to Altosk and they'll attack anyone at sea, Union and empire alike. They're led by this guy called Barbos. He's a right bastard."

Satisfied that the wound seemed to be coming along well, Estellise pulled fresh dressings and bandages from her medicine chest. Yuri had stopped talking, and was instead lying still and taking deep breaths. "What happened next?" she asked. "Did you defeat the pirates?"

"Yeah," Yuri said. "I kicked their asses. They got away with most of the cargo, though. And, the ship - it was called the _Fiertia_ - was already pretty old and beat up so they didn't see the point in trying to capture it. But I kicked most of their asses."

Estellise smiled. "I'm sure you did." She applied the fresh dressing and started re-wrapping the bandages.

"So the _Fiertia_ landed in Capua Torim, but we'd lost most of the cargo to Barbos. Kaufman didn't have any money to pay us, and was planning to sell the ship for scrap. Karol suggested giving us the ship as payment, and since we had saved a lot of her crew's lives, she agreed."

"Oh, is that this ship?" Estellise asked, looking around. "Is this the _Fiertia_?"

"Yeah," Yuri said. "But you're jumping ahead."

"Sorry. What happened next?"

"So there we were, sitting in Capua Torim with a trashed ship, no crew, and about two hundred gald between us. We - _ah_!"

"Sorry!" She pulled the bandages tight and tucked the end in to finish the job. "I'm done touching your wound now, I promise. Keep telling me the story."

"Alright…" he paused to catch his breath. "I was at… right, Capua Torim. We needed money to fix up the boat. I was pretty sure we'd gotten ripped off, but Karol kept insisting we were going to turn her into the finest ship on the sea and everything would be great. We were arguing about how we were going to turn our two hundred gald into a ship-shape boat when we were approached by two women. You've met them - Judy and Rita."

"Oh, yes, I know them," Estellise said with a smile. She hadn't gotten a chance to talk to Judith very much, but she already liked Rita. She reached out for Yuri's wrist and took his calloused hand in her own.

"Why are you holding my hand?" he asked with confusion, trying to pull away.

"I'm just taking your pulse," she said, tightening her grip. "Don't worry, I know a big strong man like you doesn't need his hand held."

Yuri scowled at her teasing, but let her take his pulse. To Estellise's satisfaction, she could feel it thudding strong and steady in his wrist. "How did Rita and Judith help?" she asked.

"They were out of money, too," Yuri said. "Far as I know, they'd been travelling together for about a year doing scientific research of some kind. But, they'd used up all their money and were stuck in Capua Torim just like us. Luckily, it turns out both of them are fantastic gamblers, especially Judy. Karol gave her the last of our money, and she turned it into a small fortune. We planned to split it in half and go our separate ways, but they needed a ship out of Capua Torim anyway so they stuck around while we used the money to repair the ship and hire a crew. Rita said they were only sticking around for a little while, but somehow they never left."

"And from there you became privateers?" Estellise asked.

"Pretty much. All Karol and I wanted was a place to sail around, see the world, that sort of thing. We didn't have the means to become merchants, so we applied for a letter of marque from Don Whitehorse and here we are. We renamed the ship the _Brave Vesperia_ after fixing her up and setting out. That was about three years ago."

"Wow…" It sounded like such an exciting life. She could hardly imagine the sort of adventures they'd had, sailing around and seeing the world, with no one to tell them where to go or what to do. It made her life in the castle seem very small.

"So," Yuri said, "what's the word, doc? Am I gonna live?"

"So far everything looks good," Estellise said. "You won't get better if you don't eat anything, though."

Yuri turned his head enough to glare at the soup. "No."

"Yes, you have to eat. Stop being so stubborn."

"I'm fine," he insisted. "I'm not hungry. I don't need to eat."

"Don't be ridiculous," she said. "You haven't eaten since yesterday and your body's undergone huge trauma. You need to restore your lost nutrients."

Yuri scowled. "I don't want it."

Estellise scooted her chair closer to the table and picked up the spoon. She held the spoonful out to him while saying, "Come on, open wide, yummy-yummy soup. Mmmm."

Yuri gave her a look so dry it could have soaked up the ocean.

Estellise giggled. "Sorry. You really do need to eat, though." He crossed his arms and glared at her stubbornly, so she tried a different approach. "If you don't eat soon, your stomach is going to start rumbling and growling, and how is that going to feel?"

Yuri's resolve faltered. His eyes darted to the bandages around his middle with a frown, and he reluctantly conceded to her point. "Alright, fine. But give me that; you're not feeding me like an infant."

"Good!" She picked up his discarded blanket and folded it up. "Let me help you sit up so you can-"

"I can do it myself." He pushed against the bed and pulled himself upright, his arms shaking with the effort and his face scrunched up. Estellise quickly slipped the folded blanket behind him as a makeshift pillow and he collapsed against the headboard. "There," he panted. "See? I'm fine."

She decided not to mention the way his face had gone white or the sweat trickling down his neck.

"Maybe I should get up and eat properly at a table."

He started to try to swing his legs off the bed, but Estellise grabbed them and pushed him away from the edge. "Absolutely not. You can't get out of bed for _at least_ a week."

"Aw, come on," Yuri said. "I need to get up and get moving. That's how I heal; I need to walk it off."

Estellise folded her arms and glared at him. "You stay in that bed Yuri Capel, or your stitches will rip and I'll have to re-do the entire process. If you thought it hurt last time, just wait until I have to pull the old broken ones out first, and I won't be gentle this time."

Yuri blanched at the prospect of sitting through the surgery again, and stopped trying to get up. Estellise wasn't sure how long this would last. She hadn't known Yuri for very long, but she already got the feeling he was going to be the kind of patient Dr. Dropwart described as 'difficult.' Estellise picked up the tray and set it carefully on Yuri's lap. "Alright, eat your breakfast."

He leaned forward, and stopped suddenly when the action pulled on his stitches. He took a deep breath and instead delicately carried a spoonful of soup all the way to his mouth. He hesitated, and then quickly swallowed. "You sure this is alright?" Yuri asked. "It's not going to come leaking out through the hole in my stomach, right?"

Estellise shook her head with a smile. "No, it's not that bad."

Yuri didn't talk while he ate, putting all his concentration into not spilling. He couldn't multitask at the moment, since his attention was already constantly split between whatever he was doing and reminding him of the throbbing pain in his gut. Estellise sat quietly until he finished.

"There," he said, letting the spoon hit the bowl with a clatter. "Happy now?"

"Yes," she said with a smile, taking the tray away. "Do you want me to stay with you?"

"Nah, I think I'm going to try to get some sleep," he said.

"I can give you something to help you sleep," she offered.

"No," he said quickly. "No more drugs. I'm not doing that again."

"If you're sure…"

"I am." He shifted and struggled to get back to a horizontal position while moving his torso as little as possible. Estellise quickly reached forward to help. It was a testament to how much of a struggle it was that he didn't even protest.

"I'll let you sleep for now." Sleeping was good. Sleeping and resting were the best things he could do to speed recovery. "If you need anything, don't hesitate to call me. I'm only on this ship to take care of you, so don't worry about annoying me."

"Right," he said, closing his eyes. "Thanks, Estelle."

She started getting up, but paused and tilted her head. "Es…telle?"

Yuri opened his eyes again. "Oops. Sorry. I kinda forgot the rest of your name. That's what I've been calling you."

"Oh, um, it's Estellise, but… Estelle…"

Yuri frowned. "Don't make such a fuss. I was a bit distracted the last time we met."

"Oh, no, it's ok!" she said quickly. "I was just thinking, 'Estelle' sounds nice."

"It's just a nickname, geeze."

"Right. Yes. Sorry. I'll let you sleep. I hope you feel better when you wake up." He probably wouldn't, but it seemed polite to say.

"Yeah, sure," Yuri said with even less hope than she had. He closed his eyes and tried to go to sleep.

Estellise left the room quietly, still running the word 'Estelle' through her head. It was… nice. Less of a mouthful. It sounded like something you'd call your friend and not the princess. She supposed that had never really come up before, because she didn't have any friends other than Flynn, but she thought that if she ever did get any more friends, she'd want them to call her that.

* * *

It was evening when Judith and Rita found Karol sitting on the quarterdeck, curled into the corner of the railing at the stern. Repede napped next to him, and Karol absently ran his fingers through Repede's thick fur.

"There you are," Judith said. "We didn't see you at dinner."

"Oh, hey guys," Karol said, looking up. "Sorry. I'm not really hungry."

"Are you still worrying about Yuri?" Rita asked, crossing her arms and leaning back against the railing. "He's going to be fine, so stop worrying so much."

"Of course I'm worrying about him!" Karol said. "He almost died!"

"Estellise said he's on track for a good recovery," Judith said. She crouched down to his level with a smile. "Don't worry; Yuri's tough. I'm sure he'll come out of this with nothing more than a scar."

"Yeah," Karol said. "But, I don't think I'll stop worrying until he's on his feet again." Come think of it, he'd probably worry _more_ when Yuri was on his feet again, because knowing Yuri, he'd force himself out of bed earlier than was medically recommended. "Do you think we should head for Capua Nor instead of pushing on to Luccia?"

Judith shrugged. "You're the captain."

"Yeah…" This was when he missed Yuri. Karol had been the captain from the start, because Yuri said it had been his idea to get the ship in the first place, and his idea to team up with Judith and Rita to finance it. But, he rarely actually made any decisions without consulting Yuri. They were a team; they'd been together since Karol was only five years old. When Yuri was gone or out of commission, he didn't know what to do. The only thing he knew was that he wanted to make Yuri proud, and that meant figuring things out for himself.

Capua Nor was closer than Luccia, which was a small town on Laulyse Island. It was an empire town, but didn't have any major naval bases and was pretty open to Union traders. They usually didn't go farther east than that, though. Beyond that was the empire's heartland of the Ilyccia Islands, and they had no need to risk themselves by getting too close. They were planning on stopping in Luccia to restock on supplies, and tended to avoid Capua Nor because the empire had a strong presence there. Capua Nor was out of their way, but they could still reach it sooner than Luccia. But, Yuri would be really mad if they went off course on his account. It wasn't like he was actively dying and in need of urgent medical care.

He nodded to himself as he came to his decision. "We'll keep going to Luccia, but if Yuri takes a turn for the worst we'll change our course for Capua Nor."

"Good plan," Judith said with a nod.

"Hopefully Yuri will be well enough by the time we get there for Flynn and Estellise to leave," Rita said.

"Oh?" Judith look up with a small smile. "You sound so eager for them to leave, and here I thought you and Estellise were hitting it off."

"What are you talking about?" Rita snapped. "She's nice and all, but she's so naïve. I'm just worried about how the empire's going to react when they find out one of their captains and a noble woman are on our ship. With Yuri's luck, they'll probably think we kidnapped them or something and come after us."

"Oh, that's true," Karol said with a frown. "I didn't think of that."

"It is a risk," Judith said, standing up. "But you're right, hopefully they'll be able to leave once we reach Luccia, and no harm done. I'm sure Yuri will be glad to get Flynn off the ship, at least."

"Not particularly," Karol said. "Yuri doesn't mind Flynn, I think."

Rita snorted. "Right. You do remember that Yuri hates the navy, right?"

"No, he knows this guy," Karol said. "Before I met him, back when he still lived in Zaphias, he and Flynn were best friends. But, I don't think Flynn recognizes Yuri."

"Interesting," Judith said.

"Where is Flynn, anyway?" Karol asked.

"I've got him mopping the hold," Judith said.

Rita raised an eyebrow. "Since when do we mop the hold?"

With that idle smile Judith had perfected, she said, "Since Captain Flynn spent the day wandering around with nothing to do, irritating everyone else. We didn't have any drying paint for him to oversee, but I figured this would get the job done."

Rita laughed. "Well, at least you got him out of the way."

Karol got to his feet. "I'm going to get dinner."

"I don't think Yuri's eaten yet," Judith said. "You should take him some soup."

Karol nodded. "Yeah, I'll do that." He scratched Repede on the head one more time and then made his way below decks. After grabbing a bowl of soup from Hanks in the galley, he crossed the gun deck, knocked on Yuri's door, and entered.

"…and then he said 'prepare to die, eggbear!'" Yuri was saying. "But it wasn't even a bear, it was a…" he paused to take a deep, pained breath. "A squirrel, rustling around in the bushes."

Karol's face turned read. "Yuri! Why are you telling her that!?"

Estellise looked over her shoulder with surprise, and Yuri looked up with a grin. "Hey, Captain Karol," he said. "Good to see you." He was clearly trying hard to act like he was totally fine, but Karol had known him long enough to notice the rough edge to his voice and the way he gripped the sheet until his hands shook.

Karol didn't mention it. "I brought you supper," he said, carrying the tray to Yuri's bed. "It's clam chowder. Judith pulled the clams up from the ocean floor herself."

"Ugh, soup again?" Yuri said. "I'm sick of soup. Can't I have some real food?"

Karol looked to Estellise who quickly shook her head. "You're not ready for solids yet."

"Don't say it like that," Yuri grumbled. "You make it sound like I'm an infant."

"It's the same principle," Estellise said. "Your body's not physically ready to digest solid food yet, because your digestive tract has been damaged. I mean, you might be able to, but it would _really_ hurt."

Yuri hesitated, looking like he was actually considering this option. A small shift in weight sent a stab of pain through him that Karol noticed before he could mask it, and then he shook his head. "Alright, fine. Liquid food it is."

Karol hated watching Yuri eat, because it was clearly a struggle. He kept trying to lean forward enough to not spill all over himself, which was hard enough since they were on a moving ship. Every time he leaned forward his breath caught in his throat with a fresh wave of pain, but Karol knew him well enough to know offering help would not be appreciated.

When he was done, he leaned over to set the tray on the table. He hissed as the movement pulled at his stomach, and Estellise quickly leaned in to take it for him.

"I got it," he grunted.

"Just let her help you, Yuri," Karol said. Yuri could be so impossible sometimes.

Yuri crossed his arms and grumbled, "I don't need help."

"Of course you don't," Estellise said, patting his shoulder. "I think we should leave now and let you rest. Why don't you take some laudanum to help you sleep?"

"No. I said I don't like it. I slept all day without it, didn't I?"

Estellise frowned. "Um, no, you didn't. Every time I came in to check on you, you were awake."

Karol noticed the red marks on Yuri's palms from clenching his fists so tightly, and the hint of blood on his lip from clamping down his teeth to distract himself with a different pain. "Estellise is right, Yuri," Karol said. "What if we promise to leave you alone? Nobody will come in to talk to you while you're drugged." He was almost positive the main reason Yuri resisted was that he thought the things he'd said while under were embarrassing. Karol wasn't sure what he'd said to Flynn, but if it had been anything like the confused confessions of love he'd given Karol, he could under Yuri's feelings.

Yuri frowned, considering this option. A swell hit the boat, rocking it slightly. He grimaced and clutched his gut, making up his mind. "Alright. Yeah. Give me some, but nobody is allowed to come talk to me unless it's absolutely an emergency. Even if I ask for you, don't listen to me."

"Good," Estellise said, pulling the bottle out of her medicine chest. "You're going to feel so much better."

"Yeah, sure," Yuri said without conviction.

She poured a small cup and passed it to Yuri's outstretched hand.

"Thanks, Estelle," he said, finishing the glass in one mouthful.

"You're welcome. Come on, Karol, let's leave Yuri alone now."

"Yeah, ok. Sleep well, Yuri."

"Right."

Once outside, Estellise turned to Karol and said, "I'm sorry he told me that story about you and the squirrel. I've tried to keep him talking because it gives him something to concentrate on."

"That's ok, I understand," Karol said. He frowned and added, "He didn't tell you any others, did he?"

"Um… no, of course not," she lied.

Karol sighed. "Stupid Yuri. Well, thanks for all your help, Estellise."

"It's my pleasure! Oh, and… you can call me 'Estelle' too, if you want."

"Estelle?"

She nodded. "Yeah. Yuri messed up and forgot my name, but I like it! It's… a nickname." She smiled brightly.

"Ok, whatever you want. See you later, Estelle." He waved goodbye, and set off to find some dinner for himself.

* * *

As far as Flynn was concerned, Yuri couldn't heal fast enough. They kept him piled with work, cleaning stores deep in the hold that he doubted had been properly cleaned in years. It was a joke; he knew busy work when he saw it. He was getting pretty sick of it, because he'd done his time at the bottom of the ladder when he first joined the navy. He'd worked hard to climb the ranks and become captain, and he hadn't thought he'd ever be back to scrubbing decks.

The only comfort was that at least they were treating Lady Estellise well. Or, 'Estelle' as she insisted the others called her now. She'd spent the past few days running around after Rita and Judith, learning everything she could about the ship between checking on Yuri. The rest of the crew seemed to welcome her immediately, while Flynn felt like half of them barely restrained themselves from tossing him overboard. He supposed he hadn't helped his situation by attempting to give orders. It just came so naturally to him, and these pirates clearly didn't follow navy standards of behaviour. The other day, habit had kicked in and he'd reprimanded a sailor for drinking on duty, and Judith had to step in and hold her men back before they tackled him.

That wasn't the only abuse he received on the ship. Evey time he entered Yuri's room he invariably ended up getting something thrown at him. Yuri was in a persistent foul mood, and refused to take any drugs during the day. They'd learned not to give him anything breakable, because he tended to deal with pain by squeezing whatever was closest until his arms shook, and Karol wasn't willing to go through any more pencils. When they stopped giving him things he could smash, he'd taken to hurling pillows against the wall, or screaming into them when he thought nobody would notice. Estellise said Yuri was healing on track, but it seemed to Flynn to be taking far too long.

It apparently was taking too long for Yuri, too. Five days after his injury, Flynn knocked on the door with a bowl of soup for breakfast. Yuri grunted and Flynn entered, and then he stopped and stared. Yuri wasn't in bed, and instead lay curled on his side on the floor.

"Oh, it's you." Yuri looked up and glared. "Leave me alone."

Flynn set the bowl down and looked to Yuri with concern. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm just lying here because it's so much more comfortable than the bed."

"Why are you on the floor?"

Yuri scowled. "I, uh… I tried to get up and walk. It… didn't work."

"Why were you trying to get up?"

Yuri's scowl, if possible, turned even angrier. "Because I've been in bed for five days and I'm bored. I just wanted to take a walk out to see the gun deck."

"I see," Flynn said, recalling that Estellise had specifically said he shouldn't try to walk for at least a week. "Can you get up?"

Yuri grumbled an angry response that Flynn couldn't make out.

"Pardon?"

There was a long pause. Yuri glared at the floor, and then finally, so quietly Flynn barely heard it, mumbled, "No."

Flynn sighed and crouched. "Let me help you up."

"I don't want your help."

"I can hardly leave you lying here on the floor."

"Sure you can. Leave me alone."

Flynn was fairly certain that half of Yuri's anger toward him was based on embarrassment over the things he'd said while intoxicated. Neither of them had mentioned it, and Flynn planned on keeping it that way. In any case, he wasn't going to let Yuri's petty grudge get in the way of his health. He simply could not in good conscience leave an injured man lying on the floor, so he tucked his hands under Yuri's arms and lifted.

"Ah!"

Flynn froze when Yuri shouted. "Are you alright?"

"Put me down! That hurts!"

"I'm not leaving you on the floor," Flynn said firmly. "You got yourself into this, so shut up and stop complaining."

"Would you stop trying to give orders?" Yuri squeezed his eyes shut while Flynn heaved him to his feet. "You're not - _ouch _- the captain here!" Yuri was on his feet now, forced to cling to Flynn to remain that way. He wasn't happy with this arrangement. "From what I've heart," he panted for breath, "you're annoying the rest of the crew, too. What, is the fancy captain too good for grunt work?"

"It's nothing of the sort," Flynn said. Yuri tried to walk to the bed, but his knees gave out and he nearly strangled Flynn by throwing all his weight around his neck. Flynn dragged him the rest of the way and set him down on the edge of the bed. "There. Maybe in the future you'll listen to Lady Estellise and not get out of bed until she says you're ready."

Yuri grabbed his pillow, and Flynn ducked just in time to avoid it hitting his face.

Flynn looked at the pillow on the floor and crossed his arms. "I'm not picking that up for you, you know."

"You could stand to remember that you were _invited_ on this ship," Yuri snapped. "Stop bossing me around."

"I'm only here because Lady Estellise volunteered to help _you_."

"Right, and I only needed her because I got stabbed. Whose fault was that again? Oh yeah, yours." He struggled to pull his legs up and lay back again. Flynn didn't even bother offering to help, knowing it would be unappreciated. "Just get out of here. I don't have the energy to deal with you right now."

"Fine," Flynn said. Constant pain had clearly shortened the limit of Yuri's patience, and in only a few days of knowing him Flynn decided he had no interest in standing around taking abuse from him when he got in one of these grouchy moods. "Enjoy your breakfast."

"Hmph."

He left the room, saying, "You're welcome." Something crashed against the door, but he didn't open it again to see what.

* * *

After being stuck in bed for a week, Yuri wasn't sure if he was more in pain or bored. There was nothing to _do_ from bed. He wanted to be up running around, taking care of things around the ship, talking to people or watching the horizon from the crow's nest. Here, the most fun he had during the day was when Repede humoured him and played fetch. It hadn't even started as fetch. After the others stopped giving him breakable objects, he'd taken to crumpling papers into tight balls and then hurling them across the room with as much force as he could, because smashing things made him feel better. When he ran out of paper (because Judith confiscated that, too, claiming paper was expensive) Repede had been kind enough to trot across the room and bring the balls back. Even if he didn't have the satisfaction of crumpling it up anymore, he could still take some pleasure in throwing them as hard as he could and listening to the _thwack_ of them hitting the wall.

He really needed a distraction, because every day it got harder and harder to turn down laudanum. Day after day of throbbing agony in his gut wore on his resolve, and being on opium just felt really good. That was part of the reason he was so resistant to use it freely; he had a feeling using it too often would take him to a point where he never _stopped_ using it, and he had no interest in spending the rest of his life as a rambling, drugged-up junkie. He only took it at night, when he desperately needed sleep that wouldn't come through the pain and he could be sure no one would bother him. He could lie there in pain-free bliss until drifting to sleep, but wouldn't risk it during the day. He'd said too many stupid things just that first night.

Someone knocked on the door, and then Karol popped in. "Hi, Yuri. Are you hungry?"

Yuri turned his head and, without much hope, asked, "Is it fish soup again?"

Karol looked down with a frown. "Well…"

Yuri sighed and waved his hand. "Yeah, whatever. I'm hungry."

Karol set the tray on Yuri's lap and then sat down by the bed. Repede plopped down by his feet. "How do you feel today?"

"Better than yesterday," Yuri said. Every day he felt slightly better, but considering his hellish starting point, that wasn't saying much. "How are things on deck?"

"Everyone is fine," Karol said. "They all just miss you."

Yuri snorted. "Yeah, sure. More likely they just want me better so Estelle and Flynn will leave."

"Well, maybe that too," Karol said. "Yuri, why are you always so upset with Flynn?" Karol asked. "The way you used to talk about him, he was your best friend."

"Yeah, well, that was a long time ago," Yuri said, focusing on a tiny piece of meat floating in the broth. "He's changed."

"How so?" Karol asked. "Ages ago you told me he was a stickler for the rules. Seems like that, at least, hasn't changed."

Yuri scowled, his spoon clinking on the bottom of the bowl. "He went and joined the navy for one." He remembered when they were little, maybe six or seven, when Flynn's dad showed up on shore leave and spent the entire night telling the boys stories about all the wonderful places he'd seen with the navy. They'd decided that one day, when they grew up, they were going to join the navy, too, and see the world. They were going to travel the world and help people, and make the empire a better place.

"You used to talk about joining the navy, too, you know," Karol pointed out.

"Yeah," Yuri said, as anger flared up inside him, "until I realized it was corrupt beyond redemption, cruel to its own men, and didn't give a damn the lower classes." He always got pissed off when he thought too much about the navy and how it operated, but his tolerance for bullshit was dragged so low by constant pain that every little thing threatened to set him off. "How can Flynn _support_ that bullshit?" He was more than pissed off at him for that; he felt betrayed. His best friend had gone and become the one thing Yuri hated the most. "And in addition!" Yuri jerked his spoon around like a pointer, "That stupid idiot doesn't even recognize me! I recognized him at first glance, but he's got no clue we've even met before. How stupid can he be?"

"To be fair," Karol said, "you _did_ give him a false name."

"I think I still would have recognize him if he called himself Flynn Jones." Yuri glowered as he ate a few more mouthfuls of soup, and his glower deepened when his irritated, jerky movements caused him to spill on himself. There was another reason he was upset with Flynn, even if it wasn't Flynn's fault, but he wasn't going to tell Karol. He had a hazy memory of telling Flynn he was attractive and just… _why? _Why the hell had he said that? He felt like an idiot, and every time he saw Flynn it reminded him of how embarrassed he felt.

All in all, he wanted nothing to do with this Flynn, because he ruined Yuri's fond memories of his old friend. He didn't want to think of Flynn as an uptight navy officer who yelled at Yuri's crew and sulked around the ship acting like he'd been taken prisoner. Flynn was a pain in the ass, stab wounds were a pain in the ass, and the lack of a drug that would make him feel better without making him loopy was a pain in the ass. The world was so bright and sunny when he took the drugs, but it just left the sober world feeling harsher and ten times as irritating.

"Maybe if you just talked to him about his career choice, you two could-"

"Stay out of it!" Yuri snapped, slamming his fist onto the bowl. He'd been planning on simply putting the spoon down, but used too much strength and cracked a chunk out of the bowl's side. In the following silence, the last dregs of soup trickled onto the tray

Karol stared at him with shock and hurt, while Repede growled warningly. Yuri's flash of anger disappeared as quickly as it came. He slumped his shoulders and stared at the puddle of soup on the tray. "Sorry," he mumbled. He wished he could stop yelling at his friends. He wasn't really mad at them, he was just so frustrated and sore in general that it kept spilling over whenever he had a conversation.

"It's ok," Karol said quietly. "If you're done, I'll take your tray," he said, reaching for it.

Yuri wished Karol would get mad at him, because now he felt guilty about having better friends than an asshole like him deserved. "Thanks," he muttered.

Karol was about to take the tray when he said, "Wait - Yuri, you're bleeding!"

"What?" Blood smeared the edges of the white ceramic bowl. He turned his hand and saw a shallow cut on the side of his hand. "It's nothing."

"I'll get Estelle," Karol said quickly, starting to get up.

"Don't bother her," Yuri said. "It's just a scratch." He barely noticed it in comparison to his stab wound. It was like trying to see the stars during the day when the glaring sun drowned out all other light. "She left her medicine chest on the floor by the table. Hand me the roll of bandages." It may not hurt, but he'd rather not get blood all over his sheets.

Karol cut off a short strip. "Give me your hand." Yuri held out his hand and Karol tied the strip around his palm. "There. Just… be more careful, ok?"

He smiled and flexed his hand. "Sorry for worrying you. I really am ok. Honestly, I'm just really bored."

"Estelle said your wound would probably be closed enough that you can try getting out of bed in another day or so."

"Oh, good."

Karol got up and headed for the door. "You know, when Estelle comes in to check on you and give you laudanum for the night, she's going to ask about your hand."

Yuri's smiled dropped. "Oh yeah…"

* * *

Several days later, Estellise determined that Yuri was ready to try walking again, under supervision. Flynn planned on spending the rest of his evening hiding in his cabin after getting in a shouting match with a sailor. The man was using an inferior knot in the rigging, but when Flynn pointed out his mistake he kept insisting his knot was better. Flynn had only been trying to help, but it didn't end until Judith separated them and sent Flynn to his cabin. In that respect, he hadn't so much planned on staying in his cabin as he had been relegated there like a child in time-out.

Despite his time-out, Estellise pounded on his door and dragged him out. "Lady Estellise, do you need-"

"I need you to help Yuri," she said, pulling him by the hand toward the stairs to the gun deck.

"I really don't think he wants help from me," Flynn said.

"But you two are almost the exact same height," she said, pulling him up the stairs. "It will make it easier for him to use you as support."

Flynn sighed and let her drag him to the captain's cabin. Rita, Judith, Karol, and even the dog were already gathered, while Yuri sat on the edge of the bed.

"Geeze, you don't all have to be here," Yuri said, crossing his arms. "I'm getting out of bed, not walking on water."

"Alright!" Estellise said with a grin. "Now we can begin. Yuri, use Flynn to get up."

Yuri glared at Flynn, but said, "Fine." Flynn leaned over and let Yuri wrap his arm around his shoulders, and then helped him to his feet. Yuri hissed and rested his free hand on his stomach, but said nothing. He took a few shaky steps across the room, leaning most of his weight on Flynn.

"Hurray!" Karol yelled, punching the air. "You're doing it, Yuri!"

Yuri gave him an annoyed glance. "You really don't have to celebrate something like this, Captain." He tried to play it cool, but Flynn could tell he was under a lot of strain. They left the cabin and walked out to the gun deck, whereupon Yuri immediately said, "Let's go up top. I could use the fresh air."

Flynn began angling that way, but Estellise said, "No, absolutely not."

"What?" Yuri said with a scowl. "Is the fresh air going to kill me?"

"It's not that," she said, "I just don't want you walking up those stairs."

"I can handle it," he insisted.

Flynn wasn't entirely sure of that, considering the way his muscles shook from the strain of just walking.

Estellise sighed in annoyance. "Yes, Yuri, I'm sure you can. This isn't to do with your strength, but your _stitches'_ strength. The pressure of climbing those stairs might tear them, so you need to be cautious, alright?"

Yuri groaned in annoyance. "How much longer are you going to keep me cooped up down here?"

"At least another week," Estellise said. "But even after the stitches are out, that doesn't mean you can-"

The ship rocked as a heavy swell hit it, knocking everyone off their feet. The cannons shifted with loud thunks and the wooden hull creaked. Flynn hit the deck hard with Yuri toppling onto him with a flurry of curse words that Flynn didn't think were appropriate to use in front of Lady Estellise.

"Is everyone alright?" Judith asked, sitting up and looking around. Across the deck, crew members got to their feet and shook themselves off.

"I'm fine," Karol said.

Rita leapt to her feet with panic in her eyes. "Vera!"

Flynn looked over his shoulder, worried that one of the crew members had been hurt. No one seemed any worse for wear, and Rita leapt over a fallen woman to check on one of the cannons that had skidded to the side and crashed into its neighbour. Flynn looked to Judith in confusion. "…Vera?"

Judith smiled. "We don't ask why Rita names her cannons."

"What was that?" Estellise asked. "Is that normal while sailing?"

"Tsunami," Yuri grunted, lying on his back and clutching his stomach.

Estellise's eyes went wide. "A - a tsunami? Are you sure? Are we in danger of a bigger wave next?"

Flynn could understand her fear. Earthquakes and tsunamis were far from an uncommon occurrence across the Great Sea. Everyone who lived in coastal cities - which was practically everyone - learned to live in fear of them. "Don't worry," Flynn said. "The safest place to be in a tsunami is on the open sea."

Rita, satisfied that the cannons hadn't been significantly damaged, strolled back to their group. "Yeah, don't worry about it," Rita said. "Yuri, are you alright?"

"Fine," he said. "Nothing's bleeding. That just… really hurt."

"I don't understand," Estellise said. "Wouldn't giant waves be even _more_ dangerous at sea?"

"Nope," Rita said. "What probably happened was there was an earthquake along the plate boundary just south of here that kicked off a big ripple. So, picture a big mass of water moving through the ocean, which is about this deep." She held her hands up a foot apart. "You don't really notice it as more than a swell because there's so much room for the water to spread out on. Tsunamis are only dangerous when the ripple hits the continental shelf, where the depth of the ocean suddenly goes from this," she held out her hands, "to this." She brought them together about an inch apart. "All that water has to go somewhere, so it surges up and makes a massive wave."

"Does that mean that if we felt this here, people on the coast experienced a proper tsunami?" Estellise asked.

"Most likely," Flynn said. They sat in sobering silence, wondering how much destruction this latest tsunami had brought. Most cities weren't built on the coast directly facing the Great Sea specifically for this reason, or if they were they had enough barrier islands to protect themselves. Hopefully Nor and Torim would be alright.

"Yuri," Karol said, "do you need help getting up?"

"In a second," Yuri said. "I think I'm just gonna… lie here for a little bit."


	4. A Water Problem

**Chapter Four: A Water Problem**

Estelle stood on the quarterdeck with Rita, looking down at Flynn having another argument, this time with Karol.

"What an idiot," Rita said. "Is he ever going to remember that he's not the captain of this ship?"

Estelle smirked. "It might take a while. Flynn is… very eager to take charge, and reluctant to take orders from pirates." She felt bad for how clearly unhappy Flynn was. He was here because of her, and even though she didn't regret staying, she wished Flynn could have stayed on the _Endurance, _especially now that it was clear the crew of the _Brave Vesperia_ meant her no harm.

"How much longer are you going to be here for?" Rita asked.

"Hm… hard to say," Estelle said. "Probably another week. Once I take the stitches out, it's just a matter of waiting for him to heal on his own, and if everything is going smoothly there really isn't a reason for me to stick around. By the way, do you know what Flynn is arguing about this time?"

"He thinks we should approach from a different angle," Rita said. "Apparently with the winds, sailing straight ahead is too dangerous. Our crew can handle it, though."

"Oh, I see." This morning they'd spied a shipwreck of the coast of Muluroccia Island and decided to check it out. Depending on the state of the wreck, they would either help the survivors or salvage any worthwhile flotsam. Estelle was really hoping they'd be able to do the first. She'd been watching the wreck get closer and closer all morning, and now she could make out the details of the ship's hull in two pieces, floating upside down. The broken mast stuck up at a slanted angle, the tattered imperial flag flapping in the breeze. The most important detail they could make out now that they were closer, though, was that there were two ships.

"Oh, great," Rita said. "Looks like someone else got here first."

"Oh no, are they pirates?" Estelle asked, leaning forward on the railing and squinting to make out the flag.

"What is with you and pirates?" Rita asked, rolling her eyes. "Seriously, there are more than just navy ships and pirates in the ocean, Estellise."

Estelle pouted. "I - I know that, and I told you to call me Estelle!"

"Yeah, whatever."

Down below, one of the sailors finally interrupted Flynn and Karol's argument to point out that a second ship sat behind the wreck. Estelle couldn't hear what they were saying, but both of them stared and then ran to the bow.

"What's going on?" Estelle asked. "Are we going to turn around?"

"I doubt it," Rita said. "At the speed we're going, we won't be able to turn around before we reach the wreck. We're already slowing down so that we'll stop in front of it, but turning a ship around is a difficult manoeuvre. Come on, let's go see what they're up to." Without waiting for a response, Rita pushed herself away from the railing and headed for the stairs.

Estelle hurried to follow, and made her way down to the main deck. Above them, sailors in the rigging angled the sails to bring the ship to a stop. She ran across the deck and stopped next to Flynn and Karol at the bow.

"Good afternoon, Lady Estellise," Flynn said while looking through his telescope.

"What ship is that?" Rita asked, pointing to the one behind the wreck. Estellise's eyes widened as she took the ship. After spending her time on the _Endurance_ and the _Brave Vesperia_, she'd become accustomed to frigates. This ship dwarfed theirs, and she suddenly felt very small. They could probably run them right over.

"Uh…" Karol frowned. "I think it's a navy ship, but I'm not sure."

Flynn lowered the telescope and frowned. "It's a navy ship alright. That's the _Canary_, the flagship of the Schwann Fleet. Although, it appears Commodore Schwann is not currently on board."

"You can tell that from this distance?" Estelle asked, staring at him in awe.

"If he was on board, his pennant would be flying."

"Oh, great," Rita said. "Just what we need."

"Do you think we should tell Yuri?" Karol asked.

Rita crossed her arms. "I wouldn't. He'll just want to get involved and he's supposed to stay in bed."

Karol nodded. "That's probably true."

The _Brave Vesperia_ was slowing down now. Estelle judged this by how annoying her hair was. She hadn't bothered tying it up since arriving on the _Brave Vesperia_, but the faster they moved the more the wind whipped it into her face. She glanced enviously at Rita's short hair which barely reached her chin. It must be so much easier to have short hair at sea. For not the first time, she considered cutting her long hair off. That seemed like an extreme action, though. She couldn't imagine the fuss it would make around the castle when she returned, and didn't think a couple of weeks of convenience was worth the scandal of the princess chopping off her hair.

While she thought about that, the ship covered the distance to the ship wreck. Five men at the wheel gave a great tug and the ship twisted. Estelle gripped the railing as the ship rocked, and the wake pushed drifting barrels and planks of wood back toward the wreck.

"See, I told you we could stop," Karol said.

"Yes," Flynn said, "but you didn't give yourself any room to spare, which is why we are now face to face with the _Canary._ If you had listened to me in the first place and not attempted to approach directly, you would have been able to skim to the side and avoid a confrontation."

"Do you think they'll want a confrontation?" Estelle asked, glancing back at their mast. The black flag wasn't flying, so for all the _Canary_ knew, they were merchants. She wasn't sure why she was nervous. The Schwann Fleet was the star of the navy, and she knew they would never harm her. She supposed she was worried about how they would react if they found out the _Brave Vesperia_ was a privateer. Flynn had told her that he didn't attack after her found out because the ships were too evenly matched and he didn't think the casualties were worth it, but the _Brave Vesperia_ was far from a match for the _Canary_. Based on the guns she saw just on the side facing them, it had to have almost three times as much fire power, possibly more. It could blow them out of the water without breaking a sweat. Even if they wouldn't hurt her or Flynn, they could easily force her and Flynn to board the _Canary_ while they destroyed the _Brave Vesperia_.

A mighty boom echoed across the sea and a cannonball whizzed through the air, landing in the sea just to the right of the ship. Estelle jumped. "Why are they shooting at us?!"

"Those bastards!" Rita shouted. "How dare they shoot at us when we haven't done anything yet?! That's it, I'll show them what cannon fire is like." She turned to storm down to the gun deck, but ran into Judith, who'd walked up behind her.

"Slow down," Judith said, grabbing her shoulders. "That was a warning shot."

Flynn nodded. "If they wanted to hit us, they wouldn't have fired just one cannon."

"So what do they want?" Karol asked.

"You're the captain," Flynn said, struggling to hold in his irritation. "Shouldn't you know these things?"

Karol scowled at him and balled up his fists. "H-hey! I know a lot of things! Just… Yuri usually takes over whenever we have to deal with other ships…"

Flynn sighed. "They're telling us to surrender."

"No way!" Rita said, shrugging away from Judith. "We're not going to let them boss us around!"

"And what precisely do you intend to do?" Flynn asked. "That ship outguns you more than three to one."

Rita's anger simmered, but she didn't have a response.

"What are we going to do, Captain?" Judith asked Karol.

Karol looked between his friends with panic. "I… uh…" His eyes went back to the _Canary _and he bit his lip. "We… we can't run away, can we?"

"I doubt it," Judith said. "We can try, but they could sink us before we built up much speed."

"They want to come aboard," Flynn said. "We are not in any position to deny them. Lower your flag to signify you understand and accept."

"Who asked you for instructions?" Rita snapped.

Flynn shrugged. "What option do you have? You insisted on charging straight forward, and now you have no room for retreat. You can't hope to fight the _Canary _and win, and you can't run away, so surrender is your only option. Don't worry; I doubt they mean you any harm. This is an imperial ship wreck, and they likely just want to see what you're up to and tell you to leave."

Karol hesitated, looking between his friends and the _Canary_ for a long minute. Finally, he slumped his shoulders and said, "Lower the flag. Flynn's right, we don't have much choice."

"As you wish, Captain," Judith said, and then strode away to deliver the orders.

"Yuri's going to be pissed," Rita said.

"I don't think we should tell Yuri the navy is coming on board," Karol said.

"I'm sure he knows something is happening," Estelle said. "He'd be able to feel that we've stopped, at least. I don't think he can walk unassisted yet, though, so as long as nobody goes down to explain exactly what, I think you're safe."

"Ok. Oh, Estelle, Flynn, I think maybe you guys should stay out of sight," Karol said. It's just… the navy might be suspicious or upset if they know we've got a captain and a noble lady on our ship."

Flynn nodded. "That would raise a lot of questions. Lady Estellise and I will remain here."

"Right. Come on, Rita," Karol said, and they walked away.

When she and Flynn were alone at the bow of the ship, Estelle asked, "What do you think the _Canary_ is doing here?"

"Same thing we are, I would imagine," Flynn said. "The ship that sunk is an imperial frigate, a lot like the _Endurance_. I can't see a name from here, but it was probably on a government mission and the navy is here to analyze the situation and pick of survivors."

"Survivors…" Estelle stared out at the scene. Remnants of the ship bobbed in the waves, while the _Canary_ loomed behind it. A small dory from the _Canary_ made its way toward them, and making up the background were the green hills of Muluroccia Island. The beach was strewn with tree trunks, and though the hills in the distance were green, the forest immediately by the coast was a muddy mess of fallen trees. "What do you think happened here?"

"Do you remember the tsunami swell we felt the other day?"

Estelle nodded. "So this is where it hit land?"

"So it would seem."

Estelle frowned and stared down at the wreckage. Some fabric drifted out from behind a barrel billowing up with water. She wondered what was -

Her breath caught her throat. That was a body. "F-Flynn," she said, her eyes locked on what was now obviously a man's corpse drifting by. His face was white, his eyes wide and staring, and his hair swirled around his head like a halo. Estelle's arms shook, but she couldn't tear her eyes away. She could only see one body, but now that she'd been reminded, she couldn't stop imagining the countless others who must be floating around the wreckage. This wasn't just a wrecked ship, this was the grave site of at least a hundred men.

Flynn looked to her in alarm, and then followed her eyes to see what had startled her. As soon as he saw it, his muscles stiffened. He wrapped his arm around her shoulders and pulled her away from the railing. "Don't look," he said.

As soon as she tore her eyes away, she threw herself at Flynn, and couldn't stop shaking even as he wrapped his arms around her and held her close. Everything since she'd joined the _Vesperia_ had been fun. Once Yuri was past the brink of death, it had been a fun adventure away from her life at the castle. For this short time, she could play privateer just like the characters in her books. But this _wasn't_ one of her adventure stories, this was a real man with a real life who was really dead, and countless others were also dead, and there was nothing she could do to help them. The sailing life wasn't all fun and games after all. She had always known that at the back of her mind, but this sudden reminder made her feel sick.

"Sh, it's ok," Flynn said. "Is this your first time seeing a dead body?"

She shook her head. With her voice muffled by Flynn's chest, she said, "No, I - I saw people die while working with Dr. Dropwart. But… but they were old. They died in their sleep. It was… peaceful."

Flynn rubbed her shoulders. "The _Canary _is here to pick up the survivors. They will also collect the dead bodies so they can be returned to the sailors' families."

Estelle managed to stop shaking and pulled her head away to look up at Flynn. "Have you seen a lot of dead bodies, Flynn?"

He frowned, loosening his grip around her. "Some," he said. "It happens. The world is a dangerous place beyond the cities, especially so at sea."

She nodded slowly. "I knew that, I just… I guess I wasn't thinking about it."

"Do you want to leave?" Flynn asked. "This might be your only chance to leave until we get to Luccia. I'm certain the _Canary_ would be willing to take you to Heliord."

Estelle thought about this. She thought about the poor men who died right here, and about Sodia's fiancé Ivan who was cut down when the _Endurance_ was attacked by pirates. She thought about Yuri's story about getting attacked by Barbos, and all the other terrible things that could happen at sea. It was so much scarier than her life in the castle, but there was also so much more to do. Yuri was only alive because she was here, and the evenings she spent watching the moon rise from the quarterdeck were unforgettable.

She shook her head. "No. At least, not yet. It's scary but… I'm glad I'm here."

Flynn nodded once. "If that's what you want. Are you alright?"

She took a deep breath and avoided looking back at the ocean. "Yes," she said slowly. "I was just… startled, I suppose." She looked down at the deck with a frown, wondering if Flynn thought she was pathetic. He sailed around the world, fighting bad guys and helping people. He probably dealt with dead bodies all the time, and she doubted he ever freaked out like that.

"I understand. This isn't a sight anyone would like to see."

"But it doesn't seem to bother you."

He gave her a said smile. "Lady Estellise, you should feel thankful that you are not accustomed to such things."

"Oh… I suppose so." She sighed, and forced herself to look back at the wreck. She didn't look straight down where she knew the body was, and instead watched the flag flap on the broken mast. "I thought Rita said the safest place to be in a tsunami was at sea."

"They were too close to shore," Flynn said, following her gaze with a serious expression. "The wave had probably just risen up as it hit the continental shelf and capsized this vessel."

"It's so terrible," she said.

"Yes," Flynn said with a sigh. "I believe the entourage from the _Canary _has arrived now. Let's do some eavesdropping."

She bobbed her head. "Yes, alright."

From around the foremast, they watched as a handful of navy officers climbed a rope ladder and stood on the deck. The leader was a broad-shouldered man with a thick moustache, wearing an outfit similar to Flynn's before he lost his jacket. He was flanked by a pair of midshipmen, one of whom was very tall and equally thin, while the other was short and squat.

"Good afternoon," the leader boomed. "Where is your captain? I would like to speak to him."

Judith stepped forward with an enigmatic smile and crossed her arms. Estelle wasn't sure if she'd intentionally pushed up her breasts, but it got the _Canary's_ captain's attention nonetheless. "I'm the captain," she said. "Judith."

"Ah… um…" the captain pointedly shifted his eyes back to her face. "I see. I am Captain Leblanc of the _Canary_. I see you are a Union ship - what is your business in these waters?"

"We were en route to Luccia when we spotted the wreck," Judith said. "That's not a crime, is it?"

The tall man next to him said, "I say, you were trying to steal imperial goods!"

"Oh?" Judith cocked her head to the side. "I was under the impression that in a wreck, flotsam was fair game."

"Hmph, that may be," Leblanc said, "but this is an imperial wreck in imperial waters, and it is under our control now."

"We understand," Judith said. "Is there anything else we can do for you, Captain?"

"Yes," Leblanc said. "We have picked up several survivors of the wreck and require additional resources. We will be requisitioning seventy-five percent of your water supplies to accommodate them."

"What?!" Karol said. "You can't take our water!"

Estelle looked to Flynn. "Can they?"

Flynn frowned. "According to imperial law, the navy can take any supplies they need from any vessel in imperial waters. Water, food, even sailors to fill their ranks. Of course, the boundaries of what classifies as imperial waters is up for dispute, and the Union doesn't agree that any of this is legal in the first place. This practice contributed to the Great War between the empire and the Union ten years ago."

"I get it," Estelle said, nodding. "It doesn't seem right, though, that they can just walk on and take what they want."

"No," Flynn said. "It isn't fair at all. The _Endurance_ has never done such a thing, at least not under my command. By law they're supposed to give them coupons in exchange for the good that, theoretically, they can redeem for a partial reimbursement with the empire. The system is filled with so much bureaucracy and red tape, though, that it can take years to get the goods owed to you, and most people don't bother trying."

While Estelle and Flynn talked, the argument continued. "We'd have to go all the way to Capua Nor to buy more!" Karol said.

"And," Judith added, "we'd have to severely ration our supplies on the trip there."

"We can't even afford to buy much!" Karol said. "We were going to sell some of our goods in Luccia to pay for new supplies, but the magistrate in Capua Nor takes so much in taxes you can barely make any money selling there."

No one really knew why the water across the world was undrinkable. Based on the historical record, it hadn't always been that way. All people knew was that something happened several centuries ago that poisoned the water supply of the entire world. Drinking unfiltered water made people sick, and drinking too much of it could kill you. It wouldn't kill you right away, but that's what made it so much worse. Water could only be filtered in ponds with stems from the great tree of Halure, and this was an expensive process. Since the effects of drinking unfiltered water took so long to show up, it was easy for poorer people to say, "surely just one free drink won't hurt", and then keep saying that while the harmful effects snuck up on them and shut down their internal organs.

Filtered water was expensive, and now Captain Leblanc wanted to take a good chunk of the _Brave Vesperia'_s supplies? That wasn't right.

Rita crossed her arms and glared at Leblanc. "You're crazy if you think we're just going to hand it over."

"Yeah," Karol said. "We need that water too."

Nobody was about to tell Yuri, but they'd been giving him more than his share of their supplies. His meals alone were all water-based, rather than the dry food everyone else ate. No one held it against him, but their water supplies were even more tight than usual.

"Water supplies are essential for the recuperation of the rescued survivors," Leblanc said. "If you refuse us, we will be forced to take it as an affront to the empire."

Estelle frowned, biting her lip. Leblanc had a point; if they had picked up survivors, they needed water to help them recover, right? But their ship needed the water too. "What do you think, Flynn?" she asked.

"He's full of himself," Flynn said. "A ship like the _Canary_, a leading ship in the imperial fleet, this close to land, will have more than enough water for every eventuality. This is a display of force to throw around the empire's weight and show who's boss."

"Oh, ok," Estelle said. Good, then she wouldn't have to feel guilty that their ship wasn't willing to help the survivors.

"Unfortunately," Flynn added, "he really does have a lot of force to throw around. They don't truly _need_ the water, but if _Brave Vesperia_ doesn't relinquish it, there's nothing to stop them from blasting us to pieces."

"Oh…" Her face fell. "They wouldn't blow up the ship if they knew you and I were on it, though, right?"

"Most likely not, though they may simply force us off." Flynn frowned, watching the argument between Karol, Rita, Judith, and Leblanc with concern. "This needs negotiation and compromise. If they keep refusing to budge, they're going to get themselves killed, or at the very least the ship damaged irreparably."

"Is there anything we can do?" Estelle asked. She felt useless hiding behind the foremast while the others did all the work.

"Hm… I should handle this," Flynn said. "I've met Leblanc before. I can reason with him."

"Are you sure?" Estelle asked. "Karol said we should stay out of sight."

"The situation has changed. Stay here."

"Well… ok." Estelle leaned against the mast and watched Flynn stride out into the open.

"Excuse me," Flynn said.

Karol pulled his eyes away from his argument with Leblanc and looked to Flynn to surprise. "Flynn! I told you to stay out of the way."

"Captain Flynn?" Leblanc said, staring at him. "What are you doing here?"

Flynn reached the group and stood at attention before Leblanc. "Good afternoon, Captain. I am currently travelling with this ship for personal reasons. I'm sure we can work out an arrangement."

Judith frowned. "Flynn, I think we have this under control."

Estelle could tell Flynn was irritated, but he held himself together and remained professional. "With all due respect," Flynn said, "I have more experience negotiating with the navy."

He didn't wait for an answer and turned his back on her to talk to Leblanc. Judith frowned at his back and Rita looked about ready to aim a cannonball at Flynn's head. Karol crossed his arms and glared, but hesitantly allowed Flynn to do the talking.

"Captain Leblanc," Flynn said, "surely a well-stocked ship such as the _Canary_ doesn't need that much extra water."

"These are the standing orders from the admiral, Flynn," Leblanc said. "We've picked up about fifty survivors from the wreck. With our current supplies, it's going to be tight."

"Surely you're only taking the survivors as far as Capua Nor," Flynn said. "Your men can get by on tighter rations for a few days. Forcing this ship to go out of its way and restock in Capua Nor will be a huge inconvenience to me."

Leblanc frowned and stroked his chin. They spoke in lowered voiced now, so it was harder for Estelle to make out what they were saying. "Yeah, I understand that. I might be able to give you some wiggle room. Can you do fifty percent of your water supplies, rather than seventy-five?"

"No!" Karol spoke up. "We can't afford to give you guys any!"

"Please let me handle this, Karol," Flynn said, not looking at him. To Leblanc he said, "We can give you fifteen percent."

"Forty," Leblanc said.

"We have injured of our own," Flynn said. "Without adequate water supplies, we won't be able to take care of them. Twenty."

Leblanc and Flynn stared off in tense silence. Finally, Leblanc said, "Twenty-five."

"Deal," Flynn said, sticking out his hand.

"No way," Rita said. "We're not giving away _any_ of our water!"

Leblanc shook hands with Flynn while the short man next to him said, "You should be grateful we are giving you this offer at all! Had you protested further, we would have taken all of it."

"Yuri's not going to like this," Karol said.

* * *

Something was going on. Yuri could tell something was up, but no one came down to give him any specifics. He knew they were heading toward a ship wreck, and he'd felt the ship slow down and heave to, but then he'd heard cannon fire and raised voices. Something was happening and they were keeping him out of the loop. Dammit, he was injured, not dead. He didn't like to think that stuff was happening on his ship that he didn't know about. He was going to check it out.

He swung his legs over the side of the bed and sat up. He paused before making his next move, because just getting this far had sent a stab of pain through him. This was going to be difficult, but there was no way he would just lie here and let the world go on without him, especially not on his ship. He grabbed the table for support, wrapped one arm around his abdomen, and with great effort pulled himself to his feet. His face scrunched up and he couldn't hold back a groan as the pressure pulled at his wound, but he managed to get to his shaky feet.

"There," he said to himself. "See, I'm fine."

_No, you're not_, said the little voice in his head that told him off when he did stupid things. He'd never really thought about it before, but recent events made him realize that the voice sounded an awful lot like his memories of Flynn. He had no idea why that might be.

He ignored the logical voice and pushed himself onward. It was slow-going. Every step pulled at his wound, sending fiery bursts of pain radiating through his body. His legs shook, threatening to crumple at any moment, but he told himself he was just out of shape after lying in bed for almost two weeks. He also told himself that the distance from the bed to the door had always taken him this long, and that it was perfectly normal to be exhaustedly panting for breath upon reaching the door.

_Look, I made it_, he said to the Flynn voice. _Told you I was fine._

As he pulled the door open, his body responded with a stab of crippling pain rather than mentally telling him off. Yuri gritted his teeth and clutched the door handle for support. The door groaned in protestation at being forced to bear his weight, but he managed to remain standing and rode out the wave of pain. _I'm fine_, he kept repeating to himself. _I'm not a cripple. I can walk across the deck._

_You really can't_, the Flynn voice said.

True to form, Yuri completely ignored that voice and set course for the stairs. Estelle said he wasn't allowed to walk up stairs yet, but he figured he'd be fine if he took it slow. Besides, if anything bad happened, well, he'd figure that out when he got there. With one staggering step after another, he closed the distance to the stairs. He could make it, he was almost there, he could -

A wave hit the ship and it lurched. It was nothing as bad as the tsunami the other day, but it was enough to knock him off his shaky balance. He hit his knees hard and the jolt that shot through his abdomen was almost like getting stabbed again. His vision went white and hazy as he clutched his gut and fell on his side. A scream rose in his throat so he clamped his teeth down on his lip until he tasted blood to keep it smothered. He lay completely still, taking deep, shaking breaths until the excruciating pain dropped down to more reasonable levels of agony. He panted and started to get up, but there was nothing to grab to pull himself up and the moment his abdomen tightened, so much pain radiated from his wound that his muscles turned to jelly again and he found himself on the floor where he started.

"Ok…" he mumbled to himself. "I guess I'll stay here then."

Voices and footsteps came from the stairs at the forward end of the deck. Oh, good, maybe they were coming down to tell him what was going on. Also, maybe they could help him get up. Karol, Rita, Flynn, and a handful of crew members tromped down the stairs, speaking in raised voices.

"…still can't believe we're listening to those jerks," Rita was saying. "Who the hell do they think they are?"

Flynn, sounding very much like he was trying not to shout, said, "They correctly think they're guys who have the power to blow you up if you don't do what they say."

Rita was about to turn and continue going down to the lower deck, but she stopped and stared. "Uh… Yuri?"

He tried to smile, but from Karol's shocked response it had probably looked more like a grimace. "Yuri!" Karol shouted. He turned to the crew and said, "Keep going and get the water barrels, I'll take care of this."

They nodded and kept going, while Karol, Rita, and Flynn hurried across the deck toward Yuri.

"Yuri, what happened?" Karol asked when he reached his side.

"That's what I want to ask you," Yuri said. "What's going on?"

Rita stared at him. She wavered between worry and fury but in the end, being Rita, settled on fury. "Are you a complete moron!? What are you doing?! Estellise told you not to get out of bed!"

Yuri tried to laugh it off, but laughing hurt. "Ah, come on, you know me. I don't do well with people telling me what to do."

"This is the second time I've found you like this," Flynn said. "I would have thought after the first time you'd learned your lesson."

Yuri glared at him while Rita and Karol grabbed him by the armpits and pulled him to his feet. "Hey, I didn't ask for your opin- _argh_!"

"Sorry," Karol said.

Yuri took a few deep breaths. He ached, but he was on his feet, which was better than lying uselessly on the ground. He rested his arms on Rita and Karol's shoulders to support most of his weight and asked, "What's going on up there?"

Rita, if possible, became angrier. "Captain Flynn here just agreed to give away twenty-five percent of our water supply."

"What!?" Yuri shot his eyes to Flynn with outrage. "Why would you do that? You don't have the right to go giving away our stuff!"

"It was the only reasonable course of action," Flynn said. "The _Canary_ demanded seventy-five. I got him to agree to twenty-five. You should be thanking me."

"Thanking you for giving away our water to your navy buddies?" Only the fact that falling flat on his face the moment he stepped away from Rita and Karol would be among the least intimidating gestures he'd ever done kept him from tackling Flynn.

"They would have taken far more than that if I hadn't intervened," Flynn said.

"It was our problem to sort out. Karol, Rita, and Judy would have worked it out. You had no right to get involved and then haggle with things that aren't yours." Yeah, they probably couldn't have gotten out of this without giving up some of their water, but Flynn was in no position to make that call. He was only here to make sure they didn't murder Estelle; he didn't get to give orders and make decisions just because he was a captain on a different ship.

"Why do you keep getting angry with me whenever I try to help?!" Flynn said, his voice rising as his patience finally snapped.

"We never asked for it," Yuri said. "You're just getting in everyone's way and making a huge fuss about everything. If you're so unhappy here, why don't you just hop on the _Canary _and be on your merry way?"

"I'm not leaving without Lady Estellise," Flynn said. "And she's not leaving until you recover, so if you're so eager to get rid of me, maybe you should stop getting yourself hurt again and delaying your recovery."

Yuri fired himself up for an angry rebuttal, but Karol spoke first. "Would you both calm down!? Yuri, you're really heavy. We need to get you back to bed."

"I'll help," Flynn said, reaching forward.

The only way Flynn could help Yuri was if he miraculously found a way to get his head dislodged from his ass. Yuri swatted Flynn's hand away, which had the unfortunate side effect of both throwing his weight forward and losing his grip on Rita's shoulder. He collapsed, straight into Flynn's arms, which was in fact the exact opposite of what he'd intended. A the very least, his expression of fury, shame, and pain all mixed together in a cocktail of displeasure was hidden against Flynn's chest.

"Be careful," Flynn said.

He couldn't let go of Flynn. Flynn was the only thing keeping him from falling flat on his face, and if his fall to his knees earlier had been any indication, there were torture devices less painful than slamming his wound against the ground. He grabbed Flynn's shoulders, and with Flynn's help straightened up. "Great, thanks," he said flippantly. Over Flynn's shoulder, he saw his crew carrying up barrels of water and his anger burned again.

"Let me help you back to your room," Flynn said.

Yuri glowered at the floor, hoping to find any other option. Rita and Karol were too short to properly help him walk, and he really didn't want to risk making it on his own and falling again. He'd had enough agony for one day. "Fine," he muttered, wrapping his arm around Flynn's shoulders. He wondered if being forced to rely on the one person he was most angry with was some divine punishment for disobeying his doctor's orders.

It took about five minutes to drag himself back to bed even with Flynn's help. Rita and Karol had gone back up to the main deck to deal with the _C__anary_, leaving him alone with Flynn. He collapsed on his bed with more relief than he was willing to admit, and then pulled himself to his pillow and lay still, waiting for Flynn to leave him in peace. When he didn't, he raised his head and looked at Flynn standing awkwardly by the door. Yuri frowned and said, "Can I help you with something?"

Flynn dragged his face up from the floor. "Mr. Capel, I want to apologize. I know it was not my place to give away your water supplies. I do, however, feel that it was the right thing to do. Obstinately refusing to reason with their request could have been very dangerous for your ship."

"Yeah, whatever," Yuri said, not feeling like discussing this while his abdomen split in half. Besides, he didn't want Flynn to apologize. If Flynn apologized he wouldn't be able to be mad at him, and being mad at him was great because it took his focus away from his wound.

"I do appreciate your hospitality, especially for Lady Estellise. Thank you."

"Right," he grunted.

"Is there anything I can do to make you more comfortable?" he offered.

Yuri thought about this, and then said, "Yeah, build me a time machine so I can skip ahead to when I'm fully healed."

Flynn frowned. "I'm not a mechanic, and I'm not sure if that's even-"

"Flynn. I was joking."

"Oh. Right."

He kept his eyes on Yuri until Yuri got uncomfortable. He shifted, scowled and said, "What're you staring at me like that for?"

Flynn looked away. "I'm sorry. I was just thinking that you remind me of someone I used to know."

"Oh?" Yuri raised an eyebrow, wondering if Flynn had finally broken through that blockhead of his and remembered him. "Who?"

"Just an old friend," Flynn said.

"I hope this old friend was a cool guy," Yuri said.

Flynn frowned in thought for a few seconds, and then said, "Actually, he was more of a cocky little brat."

Yuri's face fell. "Oh."

"He was a good person, though," Flynn said, almost smiling as he was caught up in memories. "Always went out of his way to help the younger kids." His smile fell when he looked back to Yuri with displeasure. "He was no pirate."

Yuri matched his frown with one of his own. "Privateer."

"Call it what you want; it's still piracy." Flynn grabbed the door and pulled it open. "Good day, Mr. Capel."

"Yeah. See you," Yuri said without much enthusiasm.

As soon as he was alone, he grabbed his pillow, pressed it against his face, and screamed as loud as he dared. Somehow, it helped. He had all this pent-up frustration, anger, and pain that he wanted to let it all out in one angry shout. Damn Flynn. After that brief conversation, he found himself longing for the good old days when they used to hang out together as kids.

There had been overcrowding in Zaphias. Too many kids, and too many parents dying young from contaminated water. The was only one orphanage in the lower quarter, and it barely got by on donations and a sliver of government money. The orphanage director had a contact in the merchant business, and arranged a simple deal: _We'll give you some of our kids and what fee we can afford, and you find a place for them in another city_. It wasn't hard to pick which kids to send away: the unruly ones, the rebellious ones, the ones that gave the staff trouble and had little hope of ever being properly adopted. Yuri, nine year old hell-raiser, had been at the top of the list.

The poor timing would have been amazing if bad luck didn't flock to Yuri like seagulls to chum. As soon as Yuri found out he was going to be sent away, he and Flynn decided that he'd simply have to get adopted by the Scifo family. He spent enough time at their house, after all. Except, Flynn's father had passed away only a month earlier, and with that source of income abruptly cut off, Mrs. Scifo struggled enough to feed her own son, let alone take in another. After that, Yuri had no choice but to leave with the other children, and would eventually find a new home at an orphanage in Dahngrest.

The last time he'd seen Flynn, the boy had been nine years old, struggling to keep from crying as he waved goodbye from the end of the pier. Neither of them had ever expected to see each other again, even after Yuri started hearing rumours of the rising star of the navy. Yuri didn't believe in fate, or destiny, or any of that wishy-washy mystical nonsense, but he did have to wonder about the probability of a storm hitting them, or of their old carpenter getting himself killed just weeks earlier so no one could properly patch the ship. Of all the ships that sailed the Great Sea, what were the chances that the first ship to spot their distress signal just happened to be crewed by his old friend?

Random chance had reunited them after all these years, and it seemed a waste to stay angry at him until Flynn inevitably moved on. But, Yuri _had_ to be angry with him because Flynn was being an idiot and overstepping his bounds and in general needed a good fist to the face to knock him off his high horse. Yuri wanted to start things over with Flynn, and the beginning of a plan trickled together in his mind. He grinned as it came together, although it would have to wait a few days until he could at least get up the stairs to the main deck. He'd need to fill his friends in, too. Someone was going to have to keep Estelle out of the way, because she was definitely not going to like this.


	5. Broken Promises

**Chapter Five: Broken Promises **

Several days after the incident with the _Canary,_ Yuri was ready to enact his plan. He was going to need help, and not only because he needed to get to the top deck. Karol and Judith helped him, half-dragging and half-carrying him up the steps. When he finally hit the open deck, he couldn't help grinning. Even if he didn't have a mission to carry out, this would have been worth it just to feel the wind on his face again. He didn't think he'd ever been so happy to look up at the starry sky. He took a deep breath of fresh air and wondered what Estelle would do if he refused to go back to bed after this.

She didn't have much say of what he did at the moment. He knew she would be furious with him for what he planned to do to Flynn, so they'd recruited Rita to keep her distracted below decks. At this time of night, the rest of the crew was either asleep or otherwise resting down below, leaving the top deck empty and quiet save for the creak of wood and the rustling of the sails. With Karol and Judith's help, he made it to a stool sitting by the port side railing. He'd rather stay on his feet, but he had to be realistic.

"Thanks, guys," he said. "Hopefully I won't need your help just to walk for very much longer."

"Yeah, you'll be on your feet again in no time!" Karol said with an encouraging smile.

Yuri nodded once. "Yeah. Every time I get a little farther. Those stairs are going to be the death of me, though. Judy, do me a favour and fetch Flynn."

"Aye-aye, Captain," she said with that little smile of hers.

After she walked away, Karol leaned against the railing in silence for almost a minute. He and Judith had helpfully set everything up before bringing Yuri up, so all they had to wait for now was Flynn. Karol broke the silence by asking, "Are you sure about this, Yuri? It seems kind of mean…"

"It'll be fine," Yuri said. "Trust me on this."

Karol frowned. "If you say so, Yuri."

While they waited for Judith and Flynn, Yuri leaned forward and rested a hand on his gut, trying to pretend the trip up here hadn't exhausted him. Estelle said the stitches could come out in another day or two, and he couldn't wait. He had reached a point now when every waking moment wasn't filled with constant agony but a more bearable dull ache, but any movement threatened to set it off again. On top of that, and Yuri thought this really wasn't fair, the skin around the stitches had become unbearably itchy. Estelle yelled at him every time she saw him trying to scratch, and threatened to tie oven mitts on his hands if she caught him doing it again. She'd babbled something about itching being a good sign and that it meant the wound was healing, but dammit, this was annoying.

About five minutes later, Flynn emerged on the deck with Judith close behind. Yuri grinned when he saw him, grabbed the railing, and pulled himself to his feet. "Well, well, looks like we pulled you out of bed," he said.

Flynn frowned, glancing down at his nightshirt. "What is the meaning of this?"

"It occurs to me," Yuri said, "that you are unhappy on this ship." _Damn_, he thought. _This would be ten times as intimidating if I didn't have to lean on the railing to stay upright_. The pressure of keeping his balance and constantly shifting his weight to account for the rocking of the ship strained his abdominal muscles.

"Waking me up in the middle of the night and dragging me on deck is supposed to endear me to you?"

"Not at all," Yuri said. "I figured, if you're so unhappy here, we should help you leave." He shifted his position and gestured behind him, finally letting Flynn see just what he'd been brought up here for. At a gap in the railing where ordinarily they set up the gangway, a long wooden board stretched out over the sea. "Ready to take a long walk off a short plank?"

A flicker of panic crossed Flynn's face for a split second before he reaffirmed his resolve. "I see your point," Flynn said. "I should apologize for my attitude, but this display is not necessary."

"Display?" Yuri reached into the fold of the sash around his waist and pulled out a flintlock pistol. Casually pointing it at Flynn's chest, he said, "You're misunderstanding me. I'm not giving you an option, here."

From behind, Judith grabbed Flynn's arms and pulled them back. Karol moved quickly, before Flynn's initial shock had even worn off, to tie his hands together with a short length of rope. Judith pushed him, and Flynn took a few stumbling steps forward.

He glared at Yuri with fire in his eyes. "You're bluffing."

"You wish," Yuri said. He took a few steps closer, never getting far enough away from the railing to lose its support.

"You're really going to kill me?" Flynn said evenly, meeting Yuri's eyes. He looked more furious than frightened, and Yuri smiled. It might be hard to see through the navy pomp, but the scrappy street kid he'd known ages ago was still down there.

"You're not giving me much choice," Yuri said. "You've made it clear you don't want to be here, and you've overstepped your bounds since the day you arrived. I'm not going to put up with your shit anymore." It was a good thing Flynn wasn't taking his eyes of Yuri, because although Judith's poker face was as flawless as always, Karol looked like he wanted to pee his pants.

"Do you have any idea the trouble you'll be in if you murder a captain of the Imperial Navy?"

Yuri shrugged one shoulder. "As far as I know, the navy already wants me dead, so what does an extra charge matter?"

Flynn practically shook with anger. Yuri could see thoughts rushing across his face, and it wasn't hard to figure out what conclusions he reached. Yuri had a gun and two reinforcements while Flynn's hands were tied, so a physical confrontation would almost certainly end in Yuri's favour. Even if Flynn _did_ successfully overcome Yuri, Judith, and Karol, where was he going to go? If he harmed them, the rest of the crew would no doubt gang up on him and kill him for sure. Yuri watched as the hopelessness of his situation fell over Flynn, and felt a twinge of guilt in his stomach.

Actually, maybe that was just his wound acting up.

Flynn took a deep breath and steeled himself. "Alright," he said. "If you're going to kill me, then shoot me. That seems preferable to drowning, or getting eaten by sharks."

Yuri paused. This wasn't part of the plan. He and Flynn locked eyes, and he wondered if Flynn could read him as easily as he could read Flynn. Flynn was clearly betting his life on this being a bluff, and Yuri wouldn't give him the satisfaction of winning. He held his gaze, never letting his resolve flicker, and then lowered the gun, not completely out of the way, but low enough that it pointed at Flynn's foot and not his chest. "What, and get your blood all over the deck so we'd have to clean it up? If you really want to get shot, I could shoot you in the foot as encouragement to hop on that plank."

Another long stare-off happened. Yuri struggled to keep the pistol level, while every instinct begged him to out it down and use his spare hand to put pressure on his aching gut. He fought the urge and managed to keep all visible signs of pain from his face, until Flynn's eyes flicked to the deck in defeat.

"I see," he said heavily. "You're really going through with this then?"

Yuri smirked in triumph. "Not so pompous now, huh, Mr. Big-shot Captain?"

Flynn took long, heavy strides to the plank keeping his furious gaze locked on Yuri. He stopped at the end and turned his head to survey the wooden board stretched before him. Yuri had to admit, he did feel a _little_ guilty as Flynn's Adam's apple bobbed in his throat. Yuri hastily pushed those thoughts aside. It was too late to back down now.

Judith stepped up behind Flynn with a strip of beige cloth and wrapped it around his head, covering his eyes.

Flynn scowled. "Is that really necessary?"

Yuri shrugged, even though Flynn couldn't see it anymore. "You know what they say; if you're gonna do something, you should do it properly." He put the pistol away, since Flynn couldn't see it anymore so it was useless as intimidation. He pulled himself along the railing back to the plank, and then placed his hand on Flynn's shoulder and shoved. "Come on, get it over with."

Flynn tensed, and took a couple hesitant steps forward. He paused and looked back, "If you even consider harming Lady Estellise in my absence-"

"Relax," Yuri said. "She's never given away our water supplies, so we have no reason to get rid of her. Besides, I kinda like her."

"You must release her when you reach Luccia."

Yuri rolled his eyes. "You know, you _really _aren't in any position to give me demands."

"You let her go!" Flynn shouted, probably more harshly than he'd intended. His fear of death, so bravely held in check, threatened to spill over. He took a deep breath to regain his calm.

"Yeah, yeah," Yuri said with a wave of his hand. "She's free to leave whenever she wants. I promise."

"I don't know why I bother getting a promise from you," Flynn spat. "What good is the word of a thief and a murderer?"

"Aw, you hurt my feelings," Yuri said. "Just jump already."

Flynn took a few more steps, carefully feeling for the edge of the plank with his feet. When he reached the end, he turned around again to face Yuri. Well, he tried. Yuri stood off to the side, and with the blindfold, Flynn couldn't really tell where Yuri was. "The navy _will_ find out about this," Flynn said. "And they _will_ catch up with you. When they do, you'll all burn in hell."

"No points for originality with that threat," Yuri said. "Save me a seat, will you?"

Flynn tightened his lips, took a deep breath through his nose, and stepped backward over the edge.

When he heard a splash, Yuri sighed and looked back at Judith and Karol. "I think that went well."

Karol shook his head. "You're really mean, Yuri."

Yuri scowled. "He's the one who keeps shouting at everyone. This was the only logical thing to do."

Judith raised an eyebrow. "Oh? I'm not sure if Flynn would agree with you."

"Ah, he's fine." Yuri leaned over the side, just in time to see Flynn's head rising out of the water. His head comically jerked around in shock as he slowly rose out of the sea, and he came to a stop a few inches above the waterline, sitting on the back of a humongous whale.

"Hello down there!" Yuri called.

Flynn coughed and sputtered, still looking around in amazement as if he could see anything through the blindfold. "W-what - what is-?"

"I'd like to introduce you to the final member of our crew," Yuri said. "His name is Ba'ul, and I'm sure he's as happy to meet you as you are to meet him."

"What the hell is a Ba'ul?!" Flynn leaned back so his bound hands could feel the wet, rubbery surface trying to figure out what he was sitting on.

"Ba'ul isn't a what," Judith said, leaning against the railing. "He's a _whom_. Don't be rude."

"Is this how you entertain yourselves?" Flynn growled. In an attempt to stave off the terror of nearly drowning and now finding himself perched on the back of some unknown monster, he resorted to fury. "Is watching me drown not satisfying enough for you, so you need to wrangle in a monster to eat me?"

"Don't be so overdramatic," Yuri said. "Ba'ul's not going to eat you."

"He couldn't even if he wanted to," Judith helpfully explained. "His throat can't swallow anything larger than a grapefruit."

"Yeah," Yuri said. "If we wanted to feed you to Ba'ul, we'd have to chop you into little pieces first." Flynn didn't seem to find this reassuring.

"Go on, Ba'ul," Judith said. "Say hello."

A gush of water blasted in the sky by way of hello, though perhaps Flynn didn't appreciate it, since it rained down on him.

Yuri laughed. "Man, you should see the look on your face."

Flynn finally got his senses together well enough to speak. "Am I supposed to believe this was all some big joke?"

"Well, sort of," Yuri said. "You may have noticed that we haven't invited you back up yet. There are some conditions for that."

Flynn frowned. "I'm listening."

"I wasn't kidding when I said you don't seem to want to be here," Yuri said. "I get that. But, you need to stop acting like you know better. Believe it or not, our merry little crew has managed to not get ourselves killed for three years now without Captain Flynn to save us. So, these are my super-simple conditions to earn the right to get picked up again: stop being a jackass. Really, it's that simple."

Flynn's frown turned indignant. "I have not been a-"

"If you need help with that," Yuri said, "then here are your instructions for how to carry that out. Don't offer your opinion on how we do things unless we ask for it. Don't call us murderous thieving pirates behind our backs - yeah, I know you do that. Most importantly, stop being so self-righteous! I am so sick of your attitude." Yuri sighed, and then added, "Also, I'll make this fair. I know I've been pretty shitty to you, too, so I promise not to, you know, throw stuff at you anymore. So, what do you say? Willing to start over and come back aboard?" He really hoped Flynn said yes. If he didn't, they'd have to figure out what to do with him because they couldn't very well leave him to drown.

To Yuri's relief, Flynn nodded. "Alright. I can do that."

"Great," Yuri said. "Judy, hop down there and untie his hands while Karol and I get the ladder."

"You got it," she said. In a flash she stripped down to her underwear, climbed onto the railing, and then artfully dived over the side.

When Yuri said that he would get the latter, he really meant that Karol would get the ladder because walking across the deck wasn't exactly his forte at the moment. Instead he looked down to watch Judith swim up to Ba'ul and climb onto his back. She untied the rope and then pushed the blindfold up Flynn's face. Flynn opened his mouth to thank her, but even from the deck Yuri could see his cheeks go pink as he took in Judith, wearing nothing but underwear and a bra, kneeling in front of him.

Flynn averted his eyes and said, "Yes, um, thank you very much."

Karol returned with a rope ladder, which he and Yuri attached to the railing and threw over the side. Flynn crawled across Ba'ul's back toward the ladder, saying, "I, uh, I think I should go up first."

Judith pouted. "And here I thought you were a gentleman. Whatever happened to ladies first?"

Flynn coughed a bit and, still pointedly not looking at her, said, "It would be… indecent… if I were to look up at you on a ladder and see your... uh..."

Judith laughed. "Whatever makes you happy."

Flynn grabbed the rope rungs and started up. It didn't take him long to reach the top, where Yuri stuck out his hand. "Welcome aboard the _Brave Vesperia_," Yuri said. "Let's call this a fresh start, alright?"

Flynn nodded, taking Yuri's hand. "Yes. I'm willing to put the past behind us."

"Good. Then, it's nice to meet you. The name's Yuri Lowell."

Flynn froze and stared at him. Yuri grinned while realization spread across Flynn's face. For a moment, Yuri saw happiness. Then that happiness slipped into disappointment, and Yuri didn't want to admit how much that disappointment hurt him. "No…" Flynn whispered.

His eyes widened and his wet foot slipped on the railing. Flynn yanked Yuri forward as he fall backward, and Yuri's stomach smashed into the railing. An agonized shout tore out of his throat before he could stop himself and he crumpled to his knees, clutching his gut. His ears rang, his vision blurred and a searing knife drove into his abdomen. Distantly, there was a splash, and then Karol shouted, and then another splash.

"Yuri! Yuri, are you ok? Talk to me, Yuri!"

Karol knelt beside him, panicking of course. Yuri took a few deep breaths, trying to stabilize himself enough that he could speak without unleashing a torrent of swear words at Karol. He knew he was far from the ideal parental figure in Karol's life, but he did at least try to hold himself back a little when the kid was present. "I'm… f-fine… Where's… where's Flynn?"

Karol glanced over the railing. "He fell back into the water. It's ok, Judith got him. What about you?"

He slumped against the railing, not having the energy to spare to stay upright. "Don't worry 'bout me," he mumbled. He tentatively pulled his hand away from his stomach and saw blood. "Oh."

"You're bleeding, Yuri! Oh man, did you reopen your wound? I'll go get Estelle!"

"Don't-" but Karol had already run off. Yuri groaned. He didn't want to tell Estelle what they'd been doing, but Karol was probably right. From the feel of it, he'd torn at least one of his stitches.

Rope creaked, and then a soaking wet Flynn hopped over the railing. "Yuri!" he said. "What happened? Are you-"

"Karol already went to get Estelle," he mumbled. Talking was hard. Talking took effort, and he was putting all his effort into not screaming.

"I'm so sorry," Flynn said. "This is my fault. If I hadn't slipped-"

"I'm the one who th-threw you into the water in the f-first place," Yuri said.

Judith climbed over after Flynn. "What are you going to tell Estelle when she gets here?"

Yuri craned his neck and looked over his shoulder. "Judy, can you… hide the plank?"

"I'll help," Flynn said.

"Oh, yeah?" Yuri said. "Y-you want to hide this from her to?"

"I think what happened tonight should remain between us. There's no need to worry her."

"Great," Yuri mumbled, and leaned his head back against the railing. He suspected this was karmic retribution for messing with Flynn like that.

* * *

Flynn sat on the ground outside the captain's cabin, lost in thought. They'd managed to get Yuri back down to his room, and Estellise was busy fixing his stitches. He'd heard her quickly say something about a few of them being ripped and that she needed to redo them. Karol and Repede were in the room with her, ostensibly helping, though Flynn wondered at what help a dog could be. Judith and Rita had retreated to their cabins after Estellise assured them that Yuri wasn't in danger of dying and there was nothing they could do to help.

There was nothing Flynn could do to help, either, but he couldn't force himself to return to his cabin. Through the thin walls, he heard Yuri groan and muffle his shouts. Flynn thought he was doing a pretty good job, considering Estellise had to pull the ripped threads through holes in his flesh and then sew new sutures in place. Flynn's stomach hurt just thinking about it. Part of him felt guilty, since Yuri had only been injured because Flynn had slipped. Of course, his sympathy was limited by the fact that it had been Yuri's great idea to make him walk the plank in the first place. Yuri always had been stupidly reckless.

Yuri Lowell…. It turned out that this man - this _pirate_ - was his Yuri. He had considered it, of course. He'd tried to mentally age his memories of the boy and imagine what he'd look like as an adult, but he never put too much effort into it. After all, his Yuri had been a cocky little brat, but he'd always been a kind person at heart. He would never harm an innocent person. He would never become a pirate. Flynn didn't _want_ to believe that this was the same Yuri. He briefly considered the possibility that this man somehow found out the last name of Flynn's childhood friend and was merely trying to mess with his head, but that was too unlikely to consider for very long.

There was no avoiding it. This really was his Yuri. That brave, selfless boy he'd known in his youth had grown up to be a pirate. After all their talk about growing up and joining the navy so they could help people and make a difference in the world, he'd gone and done this and Flynn couldn't help feeling betrayed.

Flynn wasn't sure how much time had passed, but his clothes were nearly dry by the time Karol and Estellise left the room. Karol paused in the doorway to say goodnight to Yuri before heading down to his own cabin, but Estellise paused next to Flynn. She crouched down at his level and said, "Are you ok?"

"Of course I am," he said. "Yuri is the one you should be worried about. How is he?"

"He's going to be fine," she said. "The wound is already almost closed on its own now, although it partially reopened after he rammed it on the railing." She frowned, and added, "I was going to take the stitches out the day after tomorrow and then we could leave when we got to Luccia, but after this I think I'm going to need to stay for a few more days. Is that ok?"

Flynn sighed. He wasn't happy about staying longer, but he had expected as much. "That's fine."

"And Flynn, why are you all wet? What were you guys doing up there?"

"I… fell," Flynn said. "Yuri and I had some things to discuss, we got a little active, I slipped and fell over the side. Miss Judith jumped in to help me, and Yuri tossed down a ladder."

"Oh, ok," Estellise said. "You'd better be more careful in the future!"

"I will. I'm sorry."

She nodded, and then covered her mouth as she yawned. "Excuse me," she said, standing up. "After that surprise surgery, I'm exhausted. Yuri said he wanted to speak with you while sober, so I left some laudanum for him on the table. Make sure he takes it before you leave."

Flynn nodded. "Good night, Lady Estellise."

She smiled and headed off, and Flynn slowly got to his feet. He couldn't put this off. He needed to talk to Yuri. He took a deep breath, and walked through the door.

Yuri sat up in bed and grinned when Flynn walked in. "Aw, did you wait up for me? I'm touched."

Flynn stood by the bed at a loss for words. He stared at Yuri's face, trying to figure out how the boy he'd known had grown up into this.

After a long thirty seconds, Yuri frowned. "What, do I have something on my face?"

Flynn sighed and sat down. "How do you feel?"

Yuri's smile wavered. "You know, I really wish people would stop asking me such obvious questions."

"Sorry."

Yuri shifted his weight, trying to get more comfortable. "Nah, it's fine. I don't feel that bad, comparatively. Nothing like those first few days. Getting stitches again sucked but now it's just a dull throbbing so don't worry about little old me. What about you? No hard feelings about the plank thing, right?"

Flynn glared at him.

Yuri frowned and said flippantly, "Ok, maybe a few hard feelings."

"What you did was completely unnecessary," Flynn said. "A simple conversation could have gotten your point across without tricking me into thinking I was about to die."

"No, it wouldn't have," Yuri said. "Because you're a stubborn blockhead who wouldn't change your attitude without a huge slap to the face."

"Well…" Flynn didn't want to think that Yuri was right, even if he knew he was pretty stubborn about things like this. Mostly, he wasn't quite ready to forgive and forget, considering he'd only stopped shaking about fifteen minutes ago from the overwhelming adrenaline rush of thinking he was about to drown. "There are better ways to tell me who you really are. You could have just _told_ me without pulling a stunt like that."

"I was kinda hoping you'd work it out on your own," Yuri said. "I don't remember you being that thick. I'm almost offended that you didn't recognize me."

Flynn folded his hands and looked down. "I considered it. To be honest… I didn't want it to be true. I didn't want to believe that you'd grow up to be… this."

Yuri looked down at himself. "Am I that ugly?"

Flynn's irritation bristled. Why couldn't Yuri ever take anything seriously? There were times when sarcasm wasn't appropriate, but Yuri didn't seem to have ever figured that out. "You know what I mean."

"No, I don't." He tried to sit up more, though from the grimace that flashed across his face, he immediately regretted the movement. "You're saying you're horrified to learn about my career choice?"

Flynn's hands tightened into fists. "What did you expect me to think?" he demanded. "You're a pirate. How could you? After what happened to my father?"

Yuri glared back. "We are nothing like the pirates who killed your dad."

"Really? It seems that way to me." Yuri had loved Flynn's dad almost as much as Flynn did. When they got the news that his ship had been attacked and he'd been killed in the skirmish, Yuri had joined Flynn in grieving and swearing hatred on the heinous villains who would do such a thing. Not only had he apparently given up that hated, he'd gone and _become_ them.

"We've never killed anyone," Yuri said. "When we raid ships, we take the loot and leave the crew unharmed."

"Someone is going to get hurt," Flynn said. "Any battle has the possibility of casualties. I hardly believe not a single person has ever been harmed in your raids."

"Believe what you want," Yuri said. "I don't have to justify myself to you."

"After all we talked about helping people and fixing the empire, you threw it all aside for what? So you could pillage ships and make yourself rich?"

Flynn regretted his harsh tone as soon as the words left his mouth, because he could see Yuri stiffen, his face turn angry, and any chance of a friendly conversation shut down. "You don't know what the hell you're talking about," Yuri growled, his eyes narrowed and his fists clenched.

Flynn met Yuri's anger with some of his own. "I know you're a pirate!" He wasn't mad that Yuri had failed to join the navy like him. He might have been a little disappointed, but ultimately still supportive of whatever path he'd chosen. But a _pirate? _It almost felt like this new, criminal Yuri was a completely different person who had killed the idealistic kid Flynn had been friends with.

"I'm not a pirate, I'm a privateer," Yuri insisted.

Flynn restrained himself from rolling his eyes. "Oh, yes, of course. So, you're a pirate who got permission to be a pirate from other pirates."

"Don Whitehorse is no pirate," Yuri said. "Don't sit there all high and mighty when _you_ joined the navy."

"That's right, I did join the navy," Flynn said. "I didn't abandon our dream like you did."

"Yeah, but do you remember that at the same age you decided you wanted to be in the navy, your other life goal was to eat all of the cakes in the window of the bakery?"

Flynn scowled at him. "That has nothing to do with this. That was a childish wish, not a serious goal."

"My point is that you grew up and realized that eating that much cake at once was a terrible idea. Somehow, though, you never figured out that joining the navy was just as stupid."

"It was not stupid," Flynn said. He already realized that this was a pointless argument, and that both he and Yuri were far too angry and stubborn to convince each other of anything. Still, he couldn't keep himself from fighting. "I've already risen to captain. Eventually I'll be promoted to commodore, and, goddess willing, admiral. I'm going to change this country for the better, fix things from within, help people who are suffering. Meanwhile, you'll roam the high seas preying on innocent ships, helping only yourself."

"I don't attack innocent ships," Yuri said. "That's what it means to be a privateer. We only go after the navy."

"You don't see the contradiction in that?" Flynn was barely two steps down from yelling now. "The navy exists only to help people!"

Yuri burst into laughter, which soon turned into a groan as he clutched his gut. "Oh, hell, don't make me laugh. I'm serious, that really hurts."

"What is so funny about stating the navy's purpose?"

Yuri took deep breaths to still his laughter and then wiped a tear from his eye. "The navy only helps people? Do you seriously buy that?"

"If you had actually followed through on our plans and joined the navy, you'd be able to see for yourself that we're not the demons of the ocean you make us out to be for some reason." He didn't want to give up hope that he could break through and find the old Yuri inside this cynical pirate, but it didn't look promising. It wasn't fair. After all these years, he'd finally found his friend again, but he'd become someone with such diametrically opposed ideals he was practically a different person. He was a person whom, under normal circumstance, Flynn would have to arrest for crimes against the empire.

In Flynn's fury, he almost didn't hear what Yuri said next. "I _did_ join the navy."

It took a few seconds for the words to click in Flynn's head. "You… what?"

"I'm not spouting shit about the navy based on hearsay," Yuri said. "When I say the navy's a pile of shit, I'm basing that on personal experience."

The waves hitting the hull outside the window was the only noise in the cabin for a few seconds. Flynn tried to straighten his understanding of the situation after Yuri's words had rocked it. He was so certain that anyone who had ever actually been in the navy couldn't possibly harbour such a deep resentment, he wasn't sure how to comprehend what Yuri was saying. Something must have happened, something extreme, something to give Yuri a wildly inaccurate view of the navy. "What happened?"

"What, something horrific must have happened? Is it not possible that the institution you're in love with is actually complete bullshit?"

Flynn shook his head. He knew there was corruption in the navy and there were individuals who were pointlessly cruel, and these were certainly problems that needed to be fixed. Despite that, he firmly believed that as a whole, the navy helped more than it harmed. "What is it about the navy that makes you hate it so passionately?"

Yuri scowled and said, "Why not start with the fact that their 'recruitment' is more like government-sanctioned kidnapping."

"If you're talking about impressment, that hasn't been practiced since the Great War." It had been a touchy topic even then. Desperate to fill the ships with enough able hands, the navy had resorted to sending out press gangs to scour the streets around ports, looking for potential seamen. What this ended up meaning was that any able-bodied man between the ages of eighteen and fifty who had ever set foot on a boat before could potentially be rounded up and sent to sea for the duration of the war.

"They're not as desperate now, but that doesn't mean they don't still do it," Yuri said. "Or did you not know about that?"

Flynn's mind raced, trying to think of what precedent Yuri could be talking about. They could impress sailors from other ships while at sea, but that was harshly regulated and not very common. The right to grab any man off the streets had been revoked as soon as the war ended… right? "What happened?"

"There were some sailors accosting a woman in Heliord," Yuri said. "Yeah, real stand-up guys, these navy men. They wouldn't leave her alone, so I told them to buzz off. They wouldn't listen, so I had to beat them around a little. Apparently protecting an innocent woman from scumbag sailors is a crime, because a bunch of their buddies showed up and arrested me."

Flynn frowned, shifting uncomfortably. "Well… you did start a fight," he said without much conviction.

Yuri's furious expression hardened. "I only started it because your navy buddies didn't know how to take 'no' for an answer."

"They're not my friends," Flynn said. "They are a poor example of navy behaviour, and I am certain that if their captain found out, they would have been harshly disciplined."

"Their captain fucking knew!" Yuri shouted. "He was one of the bastards that showed up as reinforcement!"

Flynn's heart sank. "Oh…"

"They asked me where I was from, and I said Dahngrest. They immediately jumped to the conclusion that I stowed away to get to Heliord and were going to throw me in jail for that."

"But once you explained the situation-"

"It was even worse," Yuri cut in. "I've got a feeling they only said that to trick me into admitting I had sailing experience, since I told them I got to Heliord fair and square working on a merchant ship. Hell, when they found out I had sailing experience their eyes just lit up. The captain said I could either go to jail for five years for assaulting a member of the Imperial Navy, or join the navy myself."

"So… it was at least partly a choice," Flynn said. He didn't have to look at Yuri's glare to know his words were unappreciated. Yuri was probably right for calling bullshit on the situation. No judge in the empire would give someone five years for a street scuffle. If Yuri hadn't looked like a strong, handy young man who'd be useful on a ship, they would have tossed him in jail for a month or so, max, and never bothered him again. He'd never even considered that less scrupulous captains would find ways around the ban on press gangs. The rules were that they only took volunteers, so that's all Flynn ever considered when it came to filling the ranks on his own ship. "Who was your captain?"

Yuri scowled and spat out the name. "Cumore."

"Oh." Flynn's heart continued sinking and didn't stop. He had only met Cumore briefly in person, but he had quite the reputation. Flynn couldn't blame Yuri for being disillusioned with the navy if his main point of reference was Cumore. Flynn didn't ask for details, but he knew enough about Yuri, Cumore, and how the navy worked to make some educated guesses. Given that Cumore was notoriously quick to flog even the most minor offences, and Yuri's inability to keep his mouth shut and do as told, Flynn could only wonder how much abuse Yuri had endured under Cumore.

Yuri crossed his arms and leaned back with a sigh. "You know, at least Barbos has the decency to acknowledge that he's an asshole. Cumore acts like he's the goddess' gift to mankind. This is all partially your fault, by the way," Yuri said. "Your stupid childhood ideas about joining the navy convinced me to give it a try. We'd always talked about it, and your dad didn't seem to think it was that bad, and it had to be better than jail, right?"

Flynn nodded. The navy _had_ to be better than jail.

"Boy was I wrong. Turns out the navy is actually exactly like prison, except you have less free time and there's the added danger of drowning."

"Yuri… I'm sorry that these things happened to you," Flynn said. "It is a prime example of the problems in the navy that I seek to fix. But, you can't judge the entire navy based on one terrible captain. Many of the rest of us want to address these injustices and make the navy better. Please don't assume that all captains, including myself, treat their men like Cumore."

"You clearly know what Cumore's like," Yuri said. "It's no secret, and yet somehow that asshole got himself promoted to commodore. He's not just one bad egg, it's the whole system that's screwed up. And don't you think it's a little screwed up that after all this, your main concern is assuring me that not all captains are assholes? Oh, yeah, Flynn. _You're_ the real victim here. So wrongly vilified."

"That's not what I meant and you know it."

Yuri shook his head. "I'm done with you, Flynn."

"You're the one that gave up on our dream," he replied crossly.

"And you're the one who childishly clung to it, even if it meant throwing yourself in with the scum of humanity."

"At least I'm _trying_ to make a difference!" Flynn shouted. "I didn't roll over and give up and become a pirate because it was easier than dealing with the real problems in the world."

"I don't remember you being this much of a self-righteous, judgemental asshole when we were kids, but maybe I'm just looking at the past with rosy glasses."

Flynn abruptly stood up, nearly knocking the chair over. "I've had enough of you. Don't try to take the moral high road when you've turned yourself into a criminal. You may say you only attack deserving ships, but no one person has the right to decide who deserves to be protected. The Yuri I knew would be sickened by what you've become."

Yuri snorted. "I could say the same of you. What do you tell your mother? Is Mommy proud of her little captain who hasn't done a damn thing to help the people of the lower quarter?"

Flynn's chest clenched. In as even a voice as he could manage, he said, "My mother is dead."

Yuri's expression froze. In the long silence, his fire died and his face gradually slipped into a sombre frown. Yuri turned his head and looked to the sheets. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean that."

"It's alright. You didn't know."

Yuri's frowned deepened as he searched for words. All he could come up with was, "How? When?"

"About six years ago. Water poisoning." At least, that's what he assumed. It wasn't like they had been able to afford a doctor, but when every other person in the lower quarter succumbed to it eventually and her symptoms had matched the gradual sickness and eventual organ failure that were all too familiar to Flynn, it wasn't hard to guess. It had taken her fairly young, but it couldn't have helped that she made sure he and Yuri drank nothing but clean water at her home for their whole childhoods, even if it meant drinking unfiltered water himself. Yuri didn't know that she'd sacrificed her own health so he could have her share of clean water, and Flynn wasn't about to tell him. As furious as he was with Yuri, that wasn't a fair burden to put on anybody.

Yuri didn't have anything to say. After nearly a minute of him sitting silently and staring at his knees, Flynn started for the door and said, "I'm going to bed. Remember to take the laudanum Lady Estellise left for you."

"Yeah," Yuri said. After the stress of surgery, the fervour of their argument, and the news that the woman who'd been like a mother to him was dead, he sounded drained. He finally pulled his head up and said, "Flynn… we'll be in Luccia the day after tomorrow, if the wind holds. You can stay if you want. If you want to leave, I swear I will protect Estelle."

"I know," Flynn said. Yuri had changed a lot since he last saw him, and his ideas of what ships it was alright to attack were misguided, but Flynn was certain he could trust him with Estellise's safety. But, that didn't mean he wouldn't trust himself a lot more at this point. "I will most likely stay with Lady Estellise, if you allow me to remain on your ship."

"Fine. Goodnight."

"Goodnight. I hope you feel better in the morning."

Yuri snorted. "Right." He grabbed the cup of laudanum and downed it as Flynn left the room.


	6. Passengers

**Chapter Six: Passengers**

"I want to go into town," Yuri said a couple of days later when they reached Luccia.

"You really shouldn't," Estelle said. "I just put in fresh stitches the other day. Take it easy for a couple more days and then I'll take them all out, ok?"

Yuri groaned and leaned his head back in the pillows. "Fine. Karol, remember to get more water-"

"I know, Yuri," Karol said, crossing his arms. "We went over the shopping list yesterday, remember?"

"Right. Just making sure."

"It'll be tight, though," Karol said. "When I budgeted our trip at the last port, I wasn't expecting to need to replace that much water."

"Do we have enough?" Judith asked.

"I think so," Karol said. "For now, at least. We're going to have to go into our savings, though, and money is going to be tight for a little while."

"Can't be helped," Yuri said. "The water's gone and what's done is done."

Estelle couldn't help noticing the way he and Flynn pointedly avoided looking at each other. As far as she knew, they hadn't spoken since the night Yuri needed some of his stitches replaced. She hadn't been able to make out exactly what they were saying, but from her cabin a deck below she'd heard muffled shouting and then Flynn stomping down the hall and slamming his door shut a few minutes later. She hadn't asked, but it was obvious they'd had a disagreement.

"We'll get as much gald as we can from the goods we're selling," Judith said. "Maybe we'll find another way to get some fast cash, although the gambling scene in Luccia isn't worth much."

"It's ok," Karol said. "We'll make it work."

"We're going out now," Estelle said. "Do you need anything else, Yuri?"

"Nah, I'm good. Have fun in town."

"See you, Yuri," Karol said. "Repede, you come and get me if Yuri needs anything, got it?"

Repede barked, and the group left the room. Estelle could barely control her excitement as she walked down the gangplank to the pier. She'd never been to a city besides Zaphias before. In fact, she'd only ever seen Zaphias through the windows of a carriage. She'd seen towns in pictures in books, but there was no way that could compare to the real thing.

She was so excited to reach the town that she quickened her pace, coming as close to running as she dared. The pier was made of creaky, washed-out wood and clusters of brick and wooden buildings squatted on the mainland just ahead. Seagulls flocked over head and filled the air with their squawks, no doubt attracted to the same smell of rotting fish that made Estelle wrinkle her nose. They passed other ships, and dirty sailors messing with rope paused to glance over at their procession. They must be an odd group. A lady clearly from considerable wealth, a boy in the lead, a grumpy young woman carrying more firearms than Estelle thought wholly necessary, and a Krityan wearing less clothing than Estelle thought wholly proper. Behind them was their cheerful crew, eager to enjoy some time on shore after several weeks at sea.

In her excitement to reach the town, Estelle didn't notice a coiled rope sitting by a post. Her foot came down on it, throwing her off-balance. Her arms swung in circles as she toppled to the side, straight for the murky green water.

"Be careful!" Rita shouted, grabbing her arm and yanking her forward. She stumbled into Rita, nearly knocking her over.

"Th-thanks, Rita," she said, shaking a bit. She'd never set foot in a body of water deeper than a bathtub (although some of the tubs in the castle were considerably deep), and had little doubt that she'd sink like a rock.

"You need to be more careful," Rita said flippantly, pulling away from her grip. "I'm not going to be here to save your life all the time, you know."

"Right! I know that!"

"Lady Estellise!" Flynn said, nudging Judith aside to catch up with her. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine, Flynn," she said with a big smile. She wrapped her arm around Rita's shoulder and pulled her close. "Rita saved me!"

Flynn looked to Rita and said, "You have my thanks for protecting her."

Rita pulled away from Estelle and crossed her arms. "Yeah, well just be more careful, Estellise."

Estelle pouted, and started to say, "Yes, I will, but really you can call me-"

Rita stomped away, the old wooden boards creaking under he feet.

Estelle's pout deepened, but then was quickly brushed aside as she realized they were nearly at the town. She hurried forward, careful to stay on the middle of the path this time. When the reached the cobbled street of the town proper, Estelle practically bounced out of her shoes in her eagerness to go exploring.

Karol turned to Flynn and Estelle and said, "Judith, Rita and I are going to go sell our good and shop for supplies. We won't be leaving until tomorrow morning, so just make sure you're back by then. We'll be back on the ship by the evening, though."

"We understand," Flynn said. "Good luck on your purchases."

Karol, Rita, and Judith headed off, and their happy crew streamed into the town behind them. As she and Flynn walked away in a different direction, Estelle looked over her shoulder and asked, "What will the crew be doing in town tonight? It doesn't seem like you can get much done with less than one full day in port."

Flynn hesitated with a frown, clearly reluctant to tell her. He looked over at her curious face and relented. "Prostitutes and alcohol, mostly."

Estelle was quiet for a moment, disappointed that the answer wasn't more poetic. "I see…"

"Not necessarily prostitutes, mind you," Flynn said as they turned around a corner out of view from the ocean. "There's an old saying that a sailor has a wife in every port. They could be going to meet with a girl they know."

"Oh, I understand," Estelle said. With a mischievous smirk, she poked Flynn in the ribs and said, "What about you, Flynn? Do you have a wife in every port?"

His cheeks turned pink at the mere thought. "Absolutely not," he said quickly.

Estelle giggled, trying to imagine noble Flynn maintaining a network of girlfriends around the world. As far as she knew, he didn't even have one girlfriend, let alone a different one in every port. "Well, I hope the rest of the crew enjoys their… wives and alcohol. What are you and I going to do?"

"We don't have any money, so our options are limited," he said. "I figured we would return to the ship tonight rather than finding an inn. Luccia is a small town almost completely revolving around the port, which means there really isn't much to do in the way of tourist activities. I thought we might go to the one formal restaurant in town and enjoy a nice meal as a change of pace from ship food."

"But I thought you said we didn't have any money?" Estelle asked.

"Right, which is why, ironically, our best chance at getting a meal is the most expensive place in town. A common pub accepts only gald, but a more formal establishment might be convinced to send the bill to the castle or accept credit, considering our stations."

"Oh, that makes sense! Let's do that, then." Until the thought of a nice, freshly cooked meal, she hadn't realized how tired she was of dry, always-slightly-stale ship food. Even on Flynn's ship, their culinary options were limited. The thought of a delicious meal like the ones she was used to in the castle made her mouth water. She didn't want to think of herself as a spoiled princess, but she had to admit it had been a shock to learn that meals on a ship consisted of one course, not ten.

The journey to the restaurant was exciting, as far as Estelle was concerned. They passed a huge array of shops, from apothecaries to wheelwrights and everything in between. She didn't pass a single person with a smile and thought perhaps the concept of bathing had not caught on in the towns outside the castle. Perhaps they didn't bother because the town itself was filthy, with trash lining the streets and horse droppings ground in under cart wheels. It was ugly, smelly, and vaguely hostile, but Estelle couldn't be happier to see it in person.

"You seem to be taking to this well," Flynn said as he took her hand to help her step over a large muddy puddle. She didn't really need the help because the dress she'd borrowed from Rita gave her much more range of movement than she was used to, but she humoured Flynn.

"Oh, yes, it's exciting," she said. "It's so different from the castle. What about you? Have you gotten used to it from all the ports you've visited around the world?"

"Something like that," Flynn said. "It really isn't too different from Zaphias' lower quarter, where I grew up."

"Oh, right, I'm sorry." She always forgot that Flynn came from such humble origins. Of course she _knew_ it in a theoretical sense, but from the way he treated her, she couldn't help thinking he was more of a gentleman than anyone else in the castle.

The further they walked uphill away from the harbour, the cleaner the streets became. Dirty cobbles eventually gave way to smooth flagstone, and plants at the side of the road were more likely to be tended gardens than patches of weeds. It was more like what Estelle was used to, and in that sense it was completely boring.

"The restaurant I have in mind is right around this corner," Flynn said.

"Have you been here many times before?"

"A handful," Flynn said. "It's a convenient port."

They rounded the corner and faced an imposing building made with large sandstones and colourful awnings, with decoratively carved stone pillars surrounding the double doors. Flynn opened the door for Estelle and stood back to let her walk in. After the bright sun outside, the cool marble interior was a relief. She heard a fountain tinkling somewhere out of sight, and the walls were interspersed with tall arched windows and oil paintings. Estelle glanced down her her simple, untidy dress and dirty hair she struggled to keep combed and immediately felt out of place.

The maître d' seemed to think so as well. From behind the front desk, he raised his nose at the sigh of Flynn and Estelle. Estelle felt a curious sense of embarrassment. She didn't think she'd ever been looked down upon like this before, and she didn't like the judgemental look she was getting. In a disdainful voice, he asked, "Can I help you?"

"I'll handle this," Flynn said quietly to her. He stepped forward and said, "Excuse me, good sir, I am Captain Flynn Scifo of the Imperial Navy, escorting Her Royal Highness Princess Estelle Sidos Heurassein."

The maître d' did a double-take, and his eyes widened as he stared at Estelle. "Ah! Forgive me, Your Highness, I did not recognize you."

"That's ok," Estelle said. "I know I don't look very princess-y at the moment."

"Yes, I see that," the maître d' said, and then caught himself and quickly added, "I mean, you look as lovely as ever, Your Highness, despite your unfortunate circumstances."

"Yes, of course," Flynn said, tired of the maître d's frantic attempts to backpedal. "As you can see, Her Highness and I have fallen on some hard times. We are in need of a proper meal, and would be most grateful if you could forward the bill to the castle, or at least allow me to take this on credit. You have my word I will repay the debt when I have received my next wages from the Admiralty."

"No, no," the maître d' said, "please, this meal will be on the house. We live to serve the royal family! This establishment does have a dress code, however, but we would be happy to help such respected guests as yourselves."

"Thank you very much for you hospitality," Flynn said. "I won't forget this."

"Please excuse me to make the necessary arrangements." The maître d' hurried off, just as a warm breeze from the front door opening hit the back of Estelle's neck. She turned around to see who was entering, and froze with shock.

The newcomer looked, if possible, even more shocked. "Estellise?" he said.

Her face broke into a grin and she ran forward. "What a surprise! It's so good to see you again, Ioder!" She quickly embraced him before pulling back and saying with a smile, "What in the world are you doing here?" She had never been entirely sure what her relationship to Ioder was. It was some confusing mix of third or fourth cousin who was so many times removed, and she could never remember the exact numbers. He was the closest living relative she had, though, so for simplicity's sake she thought of him as her cousin. He didn't live in the castle, so it had been at least four years since she'd seen him last.

"I could ask the same of you," Ioder said.

"Master Ioder!" Flynn said, quickly bowing respectfully. "It is a pleasure to meet you here."

Estelle took a moment to look over at Ioder's companion, a tall man with stringy grey hair and a long moustache. He wore the robes of a Council member, although Estelle didn't recognize him from the castle.

"Are you here for lunch?" Ioder said.

"Yes," Estelle said. "Why don't you join us? It will be so nice to catch up with you after all these years."

Ioder smiled. "I was just thinking that. Please, allow me to introduce my companion, Magistrate Ragou."

Ragou bowed, though not to the same degree as Flynn and he never took his eyes off Estelle. "It is an honour to meet you, Your Highness."

The maître d' hurried back, and looked upon Ioder and Ragou with surprise. "Oh, Master Ioder, will you be joining Her Highness for lunch?"

"Yes," Ioder said. "Please set up a table for the four of us."

"Of course. Lady Estellise and Captain Flynn, if you would please come with me and the staff can help you get cleaned up for a nice meal."

It took about twenty minutes to get properly cleaned up. After spending a couple of weeks getting used to the casual life of adventure, it was a pain to go back to formal finery. She'd gotten used to wearing her hair loose, and almost forgot how heavy it was piled up on her head. She probably had enough fabric in skirts, underskirts, and petticoats to make a small sail.

Once she stepped out, she smiled at Flynn, who had similarly cleaned up with a dark blue jacket trimmed in gold and a new wig. Estelle giggled when she saw him, and he frowned. "What is it?" He looked down at himself and added, "I know I've dressed casually for the past couple of weeks, but you've seen me dress like this before."

Estelle stepped forward and reached for his forehead. "You have white powder on your face, silly."

"Oh…" he said as she wiped it off with her thumb. "Thank you. You look very nice."

"You think?" She held the edges of her skirt and twirled in a circle. "It's strange going back to this life. A dress like this would be impractical running around on a ship."

Flynn looked to her with concern. "Do you not intend to go back to the castle after your meeting with Alexei?"

Estelle hesitated, not sure how to answer. Did she want to go back to the castle? She felt like she had to, because there was nowhere else for her to go and the Council would make such a fuss if she didn't. She felt, though, that the castle was a box she'd sat comfortably in for her entire life, but now that she was out she'd expanded and grown and become so full of new experiences and ideas that there was no way she would fit back in the box again. "I… of course, I must," she said. "As a candidate for the imperial throne, I can hardly spend the rest of my life running around with privateers. I know that, I just… I'm trying to enjoy this adventure while I can."

"I understand," Flynn said. "Come, Master Ioder is waiting for us."

Five minutes later, the four of them sat around a table with menus, bread, and glass goblets of water.

"So, Estellise," Ioder said, "what brings you to Luccia? I was not aware you had left the castle."

"Oh, that's a long story, actually," Estelle said. She launched into the story, excitedly telling him all the details from her summons by Alexei, through the encounter with the _Brave Vesperia_ and why they had joined that ship, to the tsunami and meeting with the _Canary_. Estelle had never had so much excitement in her life before, and this was her first chance to tell an interesting story about her life. To her pleasure, Ioder seemed totally engaged in the story, although Ragou seemed rather bored and only politely feigned interest.

"…so then we came here to get lunch," Estelle said. "And that's where we ran into you."

"That's quite the tale," Ioder said. "It sounds like you've had an adventure."

"Oh, yes, it's been a fascinating experience," Estelle said.

"What about you, Master Ioder?" Flynn asked. "What brings you to Luccia?"

"Actually, my story begins more or less the same as Estellise's," he said. "Admiral Alexei summoned me to Heliord for a meeting of some kind. Magistrate Ragou is accompanying me, as our ship was going to take a detour to Capua Nor to return him to his home. We stopped here in Luccia with the intention of changing ships, but the transport that was supposed to pick me up never arrived. I am fairly certain that the ship in question is the same wreck you encountered on your journey."

"Oh, no," Estelle said. "If your transport is wrecked, how are you going to get to Heliord?"

"Therein lies my problem," Ioder said. "None of the ships in Luccia are heading that way, and they all have important business of their own to take care of. We're forced to sit and wait until the empire is able to get a replacement ship sent our way."

An idea stirred in Estelle's head. She looked to Flynn, and could tell the thoughts were percolating in his mind, too. She turned back to Ioder and said, "Why don't you come with us?"

"Excuse me?" Ragou said. "Join you on this ship of… _Union privateers_?" He glanced around, as if nervous anyone had even heard him suggest it.

"Why not?" Estelle said. "Karol said we're going to turn around and head back in the direction of Dahngrest after this. Heliord is on the way."

"I don't know," Ioder said thoughtfully. "Would this crew be open to us joining?"

"I know a few of them won't be too keen on the idea," Flynn said, no doubt thinking of Yuri. "But they are currently in a tight financial situation. I'm sure if you offered to pay as passengers, they'd take you on."

"Captain Flynn," Ragou said, "I'm surprised you'd even suggest allowing Master Ioder on such a dangerous ship. It's bad enough that the Lady Estellise is forced to remain in such company."

"I'm not forced," Estelle quickly added. "I'm with the _Brave Vesperia_ by choice."

"Be that as it may…" Ragou said.

Estelle glared at him, or at least as much of a glare as she could manage. She'd never quite grasped the talent of shooting fury at those who displeased her the way Flynn could. She hated it when Council members told her "be that as it may". There was never anything else to it, no points to refute, no real way to argue against it. It had been used against her to justify keeping her from doing things as long as she could remember, and she was getting pretty tired of it.

"I will personally guarantee Master Ioder's safety," Flynn said. "I have a pre-existing relationship with the first mate of this ship. I would not suggest such an arrangement if I did not trust this man to keep his word."

Ioder slowly nodded. "I trust your judgement, Flynn."

"If you insist, Your Highness," Ragou said, wrinkling his nose at the prospect.

Estelle wondered who was going to be more unhappy: Ragou, or Yuri when he found out two more nobles were coming aboard the ship.

* * *

Yuri was happy about a couple of things. First of all, he was sitting upright at a proper table. Yes, he'd leaned on Judy to get there, but he'd only put about half of his weight on her, rather than all of it. Second, Flynn was wearing that stupid wig and fancy jacket that brought Yuri endless amusement and fuel for making fun of him. Third, they were being offered an enormous sum of gald. That was where the things he was happy about ran out, because the sum of money came in the form of taking a couple of nobles on as passengers. They sat around the table in the great cabin behind Yuri's room, working out their arrangement.

"We can't afford not to take them," Karol said to Yuri. "After our loss of water with the _Canary_, our budget is tight enough as it is."

"Is it worth it, though?" Yuri asked. "We've already got enough trouble from dealing with the empire." His hand around his waist tightened against his stomach. "No offense," he added to Ioder and Ragou who sat at the table with them. They didn't say anything, but Yuri could tell offense had indeed been taken, especially on Ragou's behalf.

"We mean you no trouble," Ioder said. "All we want is passage to Heliord, and we will pay you handsomely for your trouble." Ioder directed his argument to Yuri, because they had, as usual, introduced Yuri as the captain.

"We're already headed that way," Judith said. "And we could use the money."

"I don't know about this," Rita said, crossing her arms and leaning back. "Yuri's right. Nothing good has ever come of getting involved with the empire. I say we leave them here and let an imperial ship deal with them." She jerked her thumb behind her, gesturing at the town visible through the large bay windows at the back of the cabin.

Estelle looked to Rita with hurt in her eyes. "I came from the empire…"

A flicker of guilt crossed Rita's face before turning back to her usual expression of mild irritation. "Obviously I don't mean _you_, Estellise."

Estelle smiled. "Ok, Rita."

"How dare you refuse us!" Ragou said, his moustache quivering with indignation. "You lot should be grateful that Master Ioder would even consider taking such a lowly vessel, and offering to pay, even!"

"Magistrate Ragou, please calm down," Ioder said, holding up his hand. "It is true that I could simply order any ship in the harbour to do my bidding and no government authority would complain, but I have no interest in abusing my power."

Yuri gave Ragou an annoyed look. He might be more keen on this plan if they could take Ioder and leave Ragou behind. In the brief hour they'd known each other, Yuri had already deduced that Ragou was everything Yuri hated in a noble.

"Please, Yuri," Estelle said, folding her hands like she was praying. "We can't leave Ioder behind. He needs help."

Flynn nodded. "I know I have no right to ask a favour of you, but I strongly desire to help Master Ioder. I would feel awful sailing away and leaving him behind."

Yuri sighed. "Why are you guys so obsessed with some noble kid?"

"Well…" Estelle hesitated, glancing at Ioder. "It's important to me because he's… he's family. Ioder is my cousin, and I want to help him."

Karol looked between Estelle and Ioder with surprise. "What, you're related, Estelle? Whoa, what a coincidence to meet your cousin out here!"

"Not technically," Ioder said. "Our relation is a bit more distant than that, but we are from the same family."

"Oh, I get it," Yuri said. He looked to Flynn had said, "You're so bent out of shape about this kid because he's the prince, right?"

Estelle, Flynn, and Karol gasped, looking to Yuri with shock. "What?" Karol said. "Yuri, what are you talking about?"

"Obviously," Judith said, "if Ioder is part of Estelle's family, and she's a princess, her cousin would also be royalty."

Karol laughed. "Yeah, but Estelle's not a princess." It took about three seconds for him to realize he was the only one laughing. He looked to Estelle as his laughter died. "Uh… Estelle?"

Estelle blushed and smiled softly. "Um… yes." She looked to Yuri and said, "Was I that obvious?"

Yuri shrugged. "It wasn't too hard to figure out."

"Damn," Flynn said. "I was hoping to keep her identity a secret."

"I'm pretty sure we're the only ones who know," Rita said. "I doubt the rest of the crew put much thought into it."

Ioder nodded slowly. "I suppose there is no point trying to conceal it, then. Yes, I am Ioder Argylos Heurassein, one of the candidates for the imperial throne. If you help me, not only will I provide you with a royal sum, but the empire will be in your debt."

Flynn looked to Yuri, and carefully phrased his opinion as a suggestion and not a command. "I think it would be in your best interests to agree to this."

Yuri frowned and said, "Alright, Karol, what do you think?"

"I really think we should take them, Yuri. We could use the money, and if the empire owes us a favour, even better." He met Karol's eyes carefully for a few seconds. Yuri might pretend to be the captain for Karol's safety and for the show of things, but Karol ultimately got to make the decisions on the ship and he's just made his.

Yuri nodded. "Alright. We'll take you on as passengers."

"Thank you, Mr. Lowell," Ioder said with a smile. "I greatly appreciate this."

"Yeah, well, it's not like we're doing you a favour. You're still paying us."

"Of course," Ioder said. He stood up and said, "We'll go collect our belongings from the inn and have them brought to the ship."

Ragou followed Ioder out of the room, and then Flynn looked to Yuri and said, "Thank you."

Yuri leaned back with his arms crossed. "I'm not doing it for you."

Judith scooted back her chair and stood up. "Do you need help getting back to bed, Yuri?"

"Actually, if it's ok with Estelle, I'd like to go up top and get some fresh air."

Estelle thought for a moment, and then said, "I think it should be alright if you take it easy. As long as someone helps you get up the stairs and you don't walk around too much when you're up there. And don't scratch your stitches!"

He paused with his hand already reaching for his stomach, and groaned in frustration. "It's so itchy! I can't stop!"

"You're going to make it worse," Estelle said firmly.

"Yuri," Judith said, "I'll help you get upstairs."

"Thanks, Judy." Boy was he looking forward to the day when he could do something as simple as walk upstairs without help. Even walking across the room felt like an accomplishment now.

Judith helped him to his feet and across the room. The rest of the group was heading back into town, so they all followed Yuri and Judith on the way to the stairs. Yuri felt bad for slowing everyone down because he took so much longer to get up, but none of them seemed too upset with him.

"Here you go," Judith said, setting him down on the stool he'd used the other night. "Karol, Rita and I are going back into town to finish shopping. Don't you go wandering around."

"Yeah, yeah, I know," Yuri said, leaning against the railing.

"See you, Yuri," Karol said, waving goodbye as the three of them walked down the gangway.

When they were gone, Yuri noticed Estelle hovering nervously in front of him, with Flynn waiting behind her. "Can I help you?" he asked.

"It's just… was I really that obvious about being a princess?"

Yuri laughed a bit. Only a bit, because laughing still hurt, but it wasn't agonizing anymore. "I didn't even know you were trying to keep it secret. What did you expect when you told me about being locked up in the castle all your life? I've read enough story books to know about princesses trapped in towers."

"Oh…" Estelle said, looking crestfallen. "And here I thought I was being so secretive."

"Thank you for not informing the rest of the crew," Flynn said. "I wanted to keep her specific identity secret for her protection. The trust I have in you does not extend to the rest of your crew."

"Yeah, I understand," Yuri said stiffly. He and Flynn hadn't had a proper conversation since their argument the night after the plank incident. Every time they spoke, they avoided eye contact and stuck to business matters.

"Although," Estelle said, "it looks like you've been better at hiding your real identity better than me. How come you told me your last name is Capel?"

"I figured you'd guess it wasn't my real last name after you found out Karol and I aren't actually related."

"I didn't think of that," Estelle said. "I thought he must have taken your last name or something like that when you adopted each other."

"Nah," Yuri said. "I just use his name when dealing with the navy because, well…" he glanced at Flynn. He was ninety percent positive Flynn wouldn't turn him in for this, but he still felt like it was a risk in admitting this in front of a naval officer. "I'm sort of wanted by the navy."

"Yes, I know," Flynn said. "You're a privateer. Under imperial law, you should be arrested and tried as a pirate."

"No, there's more to it," Yuri said. "You know how I told you about joining the navy?"

"Wait, what?" Estelle said, looking curiously between him and Flynn. "When did you join the navy?"

"It's a long story," Yuri said. "I'll tell you later. Or, get Flynn to tell you. Either way, what I didn't mention is that they never actually gave me an end date to my service. As far as I know, Cumore planned to keep me working on his ship indefinitely. I lasted about a year before deciding I was completely done with his shit. The next time we stopped near Dahngrest, I jumped ship and ran for it."

"You're a deserter," Flynn said.

"Yeah." He glared at Flynn, daring him to say anything about it.

Flynn frowned. "You can get hanged for that." He looked to the deck and put his fingers to his chin in thought and added, "Although, I've heard that depending on the captain the punishment might come in the form of several hundred lashes. Which, come to think of it, would likely result in death anyway."

"Yeah, I've heard," Yuri said. "That's why I don't go giving my name out to the navy." He crossed his arms and glared. "What? Going to turn me in?'

Estelle hurriedly turned to Flynn and said, "Flynn, you can't! I'm certain that if Yuri ran away he must have had a good reason."

Flynn crossed his arms with a sigh. "No, I'm not going to turn him in. I'm already not turning him in for piracy; what's an additional charge of desertion? Besides, what's the point of charging a man with two capital offences? He can only be put to death once."

Yuri was pretty sure that had been an attempt at a joke, and he was almost comforted to find that his old friend was as hilarious as ever. Yuri might have found it funnier if it wasn't his own hypothetical hanging they were talking about. Estelle didn't seem to find his joke funny, either.

"Flynn, that's terrible!" She smacked his arm.

"Forgive me, Lady Estellise," Flynn said. "We're going into town," he said to Yuri. "Estellise has some shopping to take care of now that Master Ioder has graciously offered to lend her money."

"Oh?" Yuri raised his eyebrows. "What kind of shopping does the princess plan to do? Surely the shoe selection here pales in comparison to the castle."

Estelle crossed her arms indignantly. "Actually, I'm shopping for medical supplies. I've used up almost all of my bandages on you!"

Yuri's smirked dropped. "Ah. Uh… thanks. Sorry."

"Don't worry, I don't blame you," Estelle said, smiling again. "I'm always happy to help someone in need. We'll be back in the evening; please don't strain yourself trying to get up and wander around."

"Yeah, I know." He hoped Estelle recognized that his irritation was directed at his wound in general, and not her.

"Bye!" she said, giving him a friendly wave as she walked away. Flynn nodded by way of goodbye and followed her.

Yuri rested his arm on the railing and his chin in his hand, watching people go about their lives on the docks below. This was what he'd missed the most in the past couple of weeks: people watching. Even on a ship, there was always activity going on to observe. A ship was like a mini society, and when he didn't have any work to do he loved sitting up in the rigging and looking down at the crew going about their lives below. There was nothing to look at from bed. By the end of the first week he'd memorized every detail of the room, and he was bored out of his mind. He longed to climb into the rigging again, but Estelle said that even after he was able to walk, it would be several weeks before he could climb again.

It was weird to think that such a small thing could make this big of an impact. Sodia's knife had only been a few inches long. The wound on his abdomen was less than two inches wide. It was such a little piece of metal, but it had nearly killed him and thrown his life on hold for weeks, maybe even months.

He heard soft footsteps, and Repede trotted up the stairs and across the deck to plop down next to him. "Hey, Repede," Yuri said, absently reaching over to scratch his head. Yuri sat quietly and enjoyed the fresh air. After being in pain for so long, it was a relief to now feel a constant dull throb and not piercing agony. Of course, that came at the expense of itching. He just wanted to dig his nails in and scratch to his heart's content, but the fear of ripping his stitches out and going through that all over again kept him at bay.

He was just thinking about how nice the day was when Ragou returned. A servant from the inn carried his bags, but dropped them on the dock at the foot of the gangway saying, "This is as far as I go, sir. It's against the law to take things onto a ship without the captain's express permission."

"What?!" Ragou said. "Why, you… look, there's the captain right there!" He turned and looked up at Yuri. "You there! Lowell! Give this boy permission to carry my things on board."

Yuri was not actually the captain, so authorizing the person to board would be quite illegal. Of course, Yuri didn't give a rat's ass about that rule, but that didn't mean he wasn't going to enjoy watching Ragou carry his own crap on board. He pretended to mull this over, and then said, "Hmmm… nah, sorry, I don't like strangers on my ship."

"Sorry, sir," the servant said. "Nothing I can do. Have a nice day!" He tipped his hat and hurried away. Yuri didn't blame him for wanting to get away from Ragou as quickly as he could.

Ragou puffed himself up with indignation and shouted at Yuri, "You impertinent scoundrel! You get down here right now and carry my things!"

Yuri had a very clear mental image of his plan to hop up, trot down the gangway, and carry Ragou's things straight into the harbour. Unfortunately, his physical limitations stopped short at the 'hop up' part of the plan. He was forced to simply say, "No, I don't think I will." He wanted to be surprised that Ragou would try to order him around considering he was the captain of the ship, but he had enough experience with nobles to know that to most of them, a man's station began and ended at 'commoner' no matter what other title they might possess.

"How dare you command a member of the Council to carry his own bags!"

If it had been anyone else, Yuri would be happy to help, or at least to apologize and explain he wasn't physically able to carry bags at the moment. When it came to Ragou, he had no interest in letting the bastard know about his handicap. He'd already sat down in the meeting before Ragou and Ioder entered, and he was wearing a close-fronted shirt to conceal the bandages, because he didn't like the idea of displaying his weakness for all to see. He didn't want to give Ragou the idea that the only reason Yuri wasn't bending over backward to cater to his every whim was that he was tragically disabled.

"No, no," Yuri said. "I want to see this. You pick things up by the handles, by the way, in case you've never lifted your own crap before. They're those semi-circle things on the top."

Yuri got the impression that if Ragou had ever learned how to murder people with glares alone, Yuri would have been dead five minutes ago. Luckily, Ragou had yet to master the art of optical assassination and so Yuri found himself still alive to enjoy watching him struggle to carry his belongings up the gangway. Yuri wasn't sure why he needed so many bags. Ragou travelled with more possessions than Yuri owned, including a brass cage with a vibrantly coloured parrot.

Once he'd hefted a quarter of belongings up the gangplank, he dumped them at the top of the deck and said, "You will pay for your impertinence, Yuri Lowell!"

From the bird cage on the ground, the magenta parrot squawked and rustled its wings. "Yuri Lowell!" it squawked. "Yuri Lowell!"

Repede tilted his ears forward, curled his lips, and growled. In response, the parrot's crest flattened on his head and he clicked his beak.

Yuri glared at the bird while Ragou headed down to grab more bags. It was a stupid looking bird, with pink feathers trimmed in black and a dumb yellow crest, and Yuri could have sworn it was glaring at him, if parrots had the ability to glare.

Ragou returned with another batch of bags, which he unceremoniously dumped on top of the previous ones. One box hit the parrot's cage, knocking it to the ground. The jolt opened the cage door, and the bird squawked and flew free. Ragou ignored this and walked back down the gangplank.

"Yuri Lowell! Yuri Lowell!" the parrot screeched, dive-bombing straight at him.

"What - hey!" Yuri ducked under his arms as the parrot attacked. He regretted that his sleeves only reached his elbows, because sharp talons scratched his forearms. He flailed his arms trying to beat the bird away, while he couldn't hear anything over the parrots' squawking and Repede's barking. "You - stupid - thing!" The parrot squawked and made a move on his head. Yuri pulled his neck aside, and the parrot ended up getting its talons tangled in his hair. It jerked away, yanking him forward by the hair. Yuri shouted in frustration as he fell forward, twisting to the side just in time to land on his side and not his fragile stomach. The parrot dislodged itself from his hair, but now he was lying on the ground, stomach aching, with blood running from the shallow cuts peppering his arms. The parrot landed on the railing and screeched in what could only be described as triumph as it looked down at him.

Ragou returned, and said, "What are you doing?! Who let my beloved Zagi out of his cage?"

"You're the one who knocked it over. Control your damn pet!" Yuri shouted from the ground.

"Come here, Zagi," Ragou said, holding out his arm. The parrot fluttered the short distance to Ragou and perched on his forearm. "I've brought my stuff aboard, no thanks to you, useless commoner," Ragou said. "Direct me to my cabin."

Yuri didn't know where Karol wanted to put their two passengers, he didn't want to help, and he was still lying on the ground, not certain how he was going to get up. "Ok, go to the stairs right over there." He gestured to the steps leading down to the gun deck. "Wrap around and keep going down to the next deck. Walk across the room heading aft until you find another stair case. Go down that. You'll be in a small hallway area. Open the door to your left and that will be your cabin. Wait down there and someone will carry your things down for you later."

"You expect me to find it on my own? Get up and show me the way you lazy lout."

"I figured an intelligent man like you would be able to follow simple instructions," Yuri said. "Don't sorry, I'm sure if you combine your brain with your parrot's, you won't get lost. Birds have an excellent sense of direction, after all."

"Impertinent brat," Ragou snapped. "I will not stand here and be insulted."

"No, I figured not. Nobles tend not to be the standing sort. You could lie around on your backside being insulted if that feels more natural to you."

"It looks to me like _you _are the one lying around. You'll regret using such a tone with me, young man." He turned with a swirl of extravagant robes and marched away to find his cabin.

Once he was gone, Yuri sighed and leaned his head. Was it worth trying to get up? Damn, that would hurt. If the others came back and found him lying here, though, they'd freak out. Besides, he didn't know how long that would take and he'd rather not lie here all afternoon. Repede stood over him and nudged his shoulder with his nose.

"Repede, help me, would you?" For some reason, asking Repede for help didn't make him feel nearly as useless as asking another human. Repede crouched next to him and Yuri wrapped his arms around Repede's neck. Repede stood up again, pulling Yuri up and then dragging him back to the stool. Yuri gritted his teeth against the strain on his abdomen, but all things considered, it could have been a lot worse. "Thanks, Repede," he said.

Repede growled and sat by his feet. Yuri reached out and rubbed his head, wondering if it was worth doing anything about the cuts on his arms. They weren't very deep and had already stopped bleeding for the most part, so he decided not to worry about it.

"Now let's sit back and imagine Ragou's face when he realizes I actually sent him to the old fish room."

They'd stopped storing their fish down there because the door had a tendency to slam shut and get stuck, although the scent of fish wasn't an odour that departed from a room easily. Yuri briefly wondered if anyone had gotten around to fixing that door, and hoped they hadn't.


	7. That Damn Parrot

There one took a bit longer to come out because the next chapter gave me a lot of trouble (I'm always one chapter ahead of what I post). This wasn't helped by the fact that I started a new job that severely cuts into my free time, so I haven't been able to write as frequently as I could in the past. Hopefully I'll get more done as I adjust to the new schedule, but at the very least you can expect updates to pick up again at the end of the summer. Thanks for understanding.

I might also use this time to give a shout out to my friend the nurse, who has graciously allowed me to constantly pester her for medical advice to make sure Yuri's suffering is as medically accurate as possible. I'm sure Yuri would appreciate the accuracy.

* * *

**Chapter Seven: That Damn Parrot**

When Yuri finally got his stitches out, he wanted to do nothing more than run around the deck as fast as he could.

"No," Estelle said firmly when he mentioned this to her as she pulled a thread from his abdomen. It felt weird pulling through his skin and stung slightly, but it wasn't so bad.

"Come on, I've been cooped up in bed for two and a half weeks!" He lay on his back in bed with his shirt pulled up to his chest. His head rested on his folded arms, and he tried not to squirm from itchy, unpleasant stinging happening on his belly. Estelle had yelled at him enough for squirming at the beginning of the procedure.

"I know," Estelle said. "But just because your stitches are out, that doesn't mean you're fully healed. It just means your wound has closed enough that it can hold itself together without outside help."

Yuri groaned and tilted his head back. "When will you let me run around, then?"

"And… there!"

The final stitch was out. Yuri raised his neck to look down at himself. There was a short, dark line on his abdomen, surrounded by raised, inflamed skin. He could still see that red dots and thin lines crisscrossing the wound from where the stitches had pressed into his skin. It ached, a deep throbbing ache that seemed to radiate from his lower back to his knees, but it was nothing like before.

"To answer your question," Estelle said, "it depends on how fast you heal. For this week, concentrate just on walking without support. Don't push yourself, or the wound might reopen."

"But if I can't run, how will I catch up to the damn parrot?"

Some people might think it was silly to swear vengeance on a parrot. Those people had likely not met Zagi the parrot, who was without a doubt the most irritating creature Yuri had ever had the misfortune to meet. They'd left Luccia behind two days ago, and once at sea, Ragou allowed his stupid pet to fly freely around the ship. Zagi took advantage of this to pester Yuri every time he came anywhere near the damn bird. He'd tried to stretch his legs and get fresh air by taking short, slow walks while leaning on Judy, but they kept getting interrupted by the stupid parrot attacking his head. He'd almost fallen over while trying to swat it away more times than he cared to remember.

Estelle frowned. "Why do you want to catch Zagi? I thought you didn't like him very much."

"So I can wring its neck!"

Estelle pouted. "Yuri, you can't kill the poor parrot…"

"Poor parrot? Look what it did to my arms!" He pulled them out from behind his head and shoved them in her face. Estelle had already seen them, of course, since she'd been the one to clean them up and wrap bandages around them the other day.

"You can't blame him," Estelle said. "He's an animal. He probably felt threatened by you or something like that."

"Why would I threaten a parrot?" he asked incredulously.

"You threatened to kill him just now!"

"Yeah, well he started it."

"I can't believe I have to tell you this, Yuri," she said, crossing her arms, "but you need to be the more mature one between you and a bird."

Yuri thought, _I wouldn't have to be the mature one if I cooked him and ate him, because then I would be the living one_. He had a feeling Estelle wouldn't appreciate that comment, though, and kept it to himself. All he muttered was an angry, "Fine."

"Hold still for a minute longer," Estelle said, reaching for her medicine chest. "I need to give you more bandages."

"More?" In the past couple of weeks, he'd gone through more bandages than a mummy.

"Don't you want to get up and walk around?" she asked with a smile.

"Of course!"

"Then we need to keep your wound protected. I'll take them off at night to let it breathe. I don't have to put them on if you're just going to lie around in bed."

"No," Yuri said quickly. "I don't want to lie here. Wrap me up."

"Alright then." It only took a couple of minutes, and Yuri was an old hat at getting bandaged by now. "All done. Do you want to go upstairs and walk around a bit?"

"Definitely."

She put her things away and then reached out to take his hand and help him sit up. He got stronger every day, but with all the abdominal strength required, sitting up was a persistent challenge. Once he sat on the side of the bed, she grabbed his hands and pulled him to his feet. After Yuri was stable, she slipped out of his grip and backed up to the door.

"Ok, now see if you can walk across the room on your own."

"Alright…" Yuri met her eyes, wishing something as simple as walking across the room wasn't such a daunting task. He'd done it about a week ago when they met the _Canary_, but that hadn't ended so well. He took a deep breath, and started forward. Without the stitches in his stomach, he felt like he had a lot more movement. Every step pulled at his wound, but it wasn't accompanied by the tugging of thread which made moving a lot easier. His legs were perfectly fine, so it was more a matter of taking slow, stiff steps while trying to move his torso as little as possible. That was the most frustrating part - physically, he had all the strength he needed to take a jog. It was that damn pain threshold that knocked him down whenever he moved around too much that held him back.

It took a couple of minutes, but he reached the other side without falling over once. Estelle clapped and said, "Yay, you did it! Good job, Yuri!"

"Ugh, you don't have to cheer like that," Yuri said, resting one hand on the door frame and leaning on it. Estelle acting like a proud mother watching her child take his first steps did not make him feel better.

"But I'm proud of you," she said. "And I'm really glad you're feeling better."

Yuri turned and leaned his shoulder against the doorframe. He'd never noticed just how many abdominal muscles it took to stand upright and stay balanced on a rocking ship before this. "All thanks to you," he said with a grin. He thought for a moment, and then his grin slipped away and he said, "Actually, really… thanks. You saved my life, and I don't know if I'll ever be able to properly repay that, especially since I know I haven't been the easiest patient to deal with."

Estelle smiled so brightly she almost had to close her eyes. "Really, Yuri, you don't owe me anything." Her smile slipped, too, and she added, "To be honest… I've never done this on my own before. I always just helped Dr. Dropwart or had him backing me up whenever I treated people in the past. I was actually really scared of messing up this whole time. When I first put your stitches in, I was shaking like a leaf!"

"Heh, well, I didn't notice. I was a bit distracted at the time." He put his hand over his stomach and smiled. "Looks like you did a good job, though. Good work!" He held up his hand for a high-five, and was met with a blank stare. "Hey, don't leave me hanging," he said.

"Uh…" Estelle slowly reached up her hand with confusion, and then understanding sparked through her eyes. She grabbed Yuri's hand and shook it, like a midair handshake.

Yuri raised his eyebrows as a grin tugged at his lips again. "Uh… not exactly what I was aiming for."

Estelle's face fell. "O-oh… I'm sorry."

Yuri laughed as her hand dropped. "No, it's fine. When someone puts their hand up like this, all you got to do is slap it with your own hand. It means 'victory!'"

"Really?" She cocked her head to the side. "Why?"

Yuri faltered. "I'm… not sure, actually. It just does."

"Fascinating," Estelle said. "We don't have a gesture like that in the castle. Let me try again!"

"Ok, go." He raised his hand. Estelle eagerly threw her hand forward and hit his with a resounding _smack_.

"Yay! The sign of victory!"

"That's not what anybody calls it, but good job."

"Are there any other hand gestures people use outside the castle that I should know about?"

Yuri thought about this for a moment, and then said, "Well… there's this one you do with your middle finger, but…" Flynn would murder him if he taught the princess that. An idea flashed through his brain, and he said, "But Flynn would be mad because it's an important gesture to him and he would want to teach you himself."

"Ok, what should I ask him?"

The innocent, trusting expression she gave him almost made him feel guilty. "You know how you hold up your index finger to show you want one of something? Do that, but with your middle finger instead, and turn your hand palm-inward."

"Like this?" Estelle flipped him off, and Yuri hurt his stomach trying to rein in his laughter.

"Yeah," he said, trying to sound serious. "That's perfect. Just show it to Flynn and tell him it's a message from me."

"You can send a whole message with just one finger?" she asked with wide eyes as she lowered her hand.

"It's a very simple message."

Estelle nodded quickly. "Ok, I'll do that. And he'll tell me what it means, then?"

"Probably. I'll tell you later if he doesn't."

"Thank you, Yuri!"

"No problem." Yeah, Flynn was going to kill him, but Yuri thought it would be worth it.

"Let's go upstairs now," she said, holding out her arm.

Yuri grabbed her elbow and they made their slow way up to the deck. Walking took effort and stairs were a special hell of their own, but they made it up top. The sky was clear and the wind strong, carrying them northwest toward Heliord.

"Hey, Yuri," Rita said, looking over from the railing. "How's your stomach?"

"Not held together with string anymore," Yuri said. "Which seems like a good sign to me."

"He's doing wonderful!" Estelle said. She and Yuri walked to the railing, and Estelle let him go so he could lean on the railing rather than her. "He's on a smooth track to recovery and I think he'll be able to walk unassisted by the time we reach Heliord."

"If that's the case," Rita said, "will you be leaving when we get there? You were originally heading to Heliord in the first place."

Estelle's perky mood faltered. "I… I suppose so. If there's no reason for me to stay, I have no excuse not to."

"Why do you need an excuse to do what you want?" Yuri said.

"Uh… pardon?" she said looking to him in confusion.

"If you don't want to go to Heliord," Rita said, holding out her hands, "don't go."

"Oh, but, Admiral Alexei specifically requested me. It would be so rude to make him wait any longer."

Yuri shrugged. "Do what you want. Just know that we're not going to kick you off the ship as soon as I'm not actively dying anymore."

"R-really?" She looked to him with wide eyes. "You mean, I could stay as long as I wanted?"

"Only if you want," Rita said quickly. "It's not like we're _asking_ you to stay or anything."

"Oh, well, um… I… I'll think about it," Estelle said.

Yuri saw movement from the corner of his eye and looked over just in time to see Ragou making his way up to the quarterdeck, that damned parrot on his shoulder. Ioder came up behind him, and he smiled and waved when he saw them.

"Good morning, Estellise," Ioder said. "How are you today?"

"I'm quite well, thank you," she said. "What do you have planned for today?"

While Estelle and Ioder chatted, Ragou and Yuri glared at each other behind their backs. Yuri had still successfully hidden the fact that he was injured from the man, because he wanted Ragou to think he could beat him up if the need arose. Of course, Ragou was left with the assumption that Yuri was just a lazy bastard who spent all day lying in bed for no reason. In retrospect, this wasn't much better.

Rita saw their glare-off and said, "Yuri, why don't you-"

"Yuuuuuri Loooowell!" the parrot screeched, and took off from Ragou's shoulder.

Yuri had about two seconds to react before it hit him. "Oh, for the love of-" He threw up his already-bandaged arms to defend his face from the coming onslaught.

"Yuri!" Estelle said, spinning around. "Be careful!"

Yuri flailed his arms to beat the bird away from his head, shouting, "Control your - ow - damn - ugh - pet!" He smacked the bird, felt feathers under his fingers and made a fist. To his satisfaction, the bird's tail feathers were scrunched in his hand, while Zagi flapped and screeched trying to escape.

"Ha!" Yuri said. "Not so tough now, are you?"

"Yuri, let him go!" Estelle said. "You're hurting him!"

"He's trying to hurt me!" Yuri protested, wrapping his other hand around Zagi's body to tighten his grip and stop his flapping.

"Unhand my bird!" Ragou demanded.

"Keep him in his damned cage!" Yuri shouted. "I'm getting real tired of this stupid thing attacking me."

"For what I paid to be on your ship, you have no right to give me any demands."

"Ragou," Ioder said, "please calm down. We need to be grateful to Mr. Lowell for taking us as passengers."

"If you don't keep this little bastard in his cage," Yuri said, "I might just forget that he's someone's pet and not a wild bird and I can't guarantee I won't cook him."

Zagi screeched so loudly it hurt Yuri's ears, but he was too busy struggling to hold the thrashing parrot to cover his ears. "Bawwk! Fear me! Yuri Lowell! Yuri Lowell! Writhe in pain!"

Rita stared at the bird and said, "What is _wrong_ with this parrot?"

"Put him down!" Ragou demanded. "If you harm my pet, I will have your head, boy!"

Zagi thrashed around, and then leaned over and sunk his beak into Yuri's hand.

"Argh!" Yuri released the bird and immediately put his hand to his mouth. This also helped muffle the stream of swear words threatening to spill forth. He pulled his hand away and spat blood over the side of the ship. "Goddess damn that parrot!" he shouted, clutching his hand. Zagi had left a deep cut on the side of his hand right above where his index finger met his thumb.

Zagi fluttered back to Ragou's shoulder, slicked back his crest, and hissed at Yuri.

"Estelle," Yuri said, "are you _sure_ I'm not allowed to cook that little pest?"

"No!" Estelle said. "Here, let me see your hand."

"It's nothing," he said, but she reached out and grabbed his wrist anyway.

Estelle frowned as she looked at his hand. "Yuri, I think this will need stitches."

"What?! No!" He tried to pull his hand back, but she tightened her grip and raised her head.

"This is deep and it's bleeding pretty bad. If it doesn't heal right, you might not be able to use your thumb properly anymore. Come with me, I'll take care of it."

"No way. You've got to be kidding!" He could not _believe_ his luck. He had literally gotten his stitches out less than an hour ago!

"I know, I'm sorry." She pulled his wrist, and he begrudgingly followed her.

He leaned on her shoulder for support as he walked away, pausing only to look back at Ragou and point with his good hand. "That bird is _so_ dead."

* * *

Flynn lay on his chest on the bunk in his cabin, trying to play solitaire. It took effort, because he hadn't found himself with the large gaps of free time and sufficient boredom to play in years and he'd forgotten exactly how to play. He had a long stack of alternating red and black cards in numerical order, but now what was he supposed to do with them? They were supposed to go somewhere, right? After staring at it for almost five minutes, he sighed, pushed the cards together, and reshuffled his deck to start again.

A knock came to the door, and he had barely finished the "come" part of "come in" before Estellise burst into the room. "Hello, Flynn!

He smiled and put the deck down. "Good evening, Lady Estellise. What can I do for you?"

"I just thought, I haven't seen you all day and I wanted to talk to you."

He sat upright and scooted back to make room for her. "I'm always happy to talk with you."

Estellise hurried across the room and plopped down on the bed in front of him, the skirt of her dress pooling around her. "I've had a wonderful day, Flynn."

"I'm glad to hear that." His own day had been entirely uneventful. True to his word, he put effort into keeping his opinions to himself. It was a struggle, so he secluded himself in his cabin trying to remember how to play card games.

"This morning, I took Yuri's stitches out."

"Oh, that's good to hear," Flynn said. He was surprised at how honestly glad he was to hear that Yuri's condition was improving. His feelings toward Yuri were so confused right now. Every time he saw Yuri he was torn between equally strong desires to hug him and punch him in the face. In the end, he settled on a content middle ground of wanting nothing to do with him, but also wanting nothing bad to happen to him.

"And then we went up to the deck and Zagi attacked him. Zagi bit Yuri's hand and I had to give him more stitches."

Flynn stared at her for a few seconds, wondering if she was joking. This wasn't Estellise's kind of humour, though. He let out a burst of laughter, and she frowned.

"It's not funny. His hand was seriously hurt."

"I know," Flynn said, shaking his head. "But this is just _so_ Yuri. Once he spent fifteen minutes carefully climbing a tree to get a ball back, but just when he reached the top branch, it snapped right under him and he dropped all the way to the ground. Sprained his ankle, if I remember right."

"Oh, no, that's terrible," Estellise said. "But, wait, when did this happen? Have you… met Yuri before?"

"I suppose I might as well tell you," Flynn said. It wasn't that he'd been trying to keep it a secret from her, he just hadn't seen a need to bring it up. "Do you remember the childhood friend I used to tell you about? The one who moved away when I was nine?"

Estellise nodded. "Are you saying that was Yuri?"

"Yes," Flynn said with a nod. "I only discovered this recently. Apparently he knew me right away and was waiting to see how long it would take me to remember."

"How wonderful! You found your friend again. You must be so happy."

Flynn looked down and picked at a loose thread on the blanket. "I guess. I'm finding it hard to be enthusiastic, though, given what he's become."

"Is that what you were arguing about the other night?"

He let out a deep sigh. "Yeah."

"Well… don't worry. I'm sure you'll work things out. From the way you always talked about him, you guys used to be really close."

"Right," he said without much conviction. He didn't even know if he wanted to work things out with Yuri. What possible gain could he have from a friendship with a pirate? He wished he could leave his memories of Yuri undisturbed in childhood nostalgia. "How is his hand, though? Was it really that serious?"

"It's going to be fine," she said. "Only a few stitches. They'll be out by the time we reach Heliord. This is nowhere near as serious as his other injury, which is still healing. Hands are delicate, but there aren't any major arteries or veins so they're rarely fatal. Oh yeah! That reminds me," she said. "I learned something new today."

She held up her hand with her middle finger sticking up, gesturing at him with an innocent smile. Flynn choked and then coughed to conceal it, and his eyes darted around on instinct to see if anyone else had witnessed the gesture. "Lady Estellise! What - why are you showing me that?!"

Estellise's face fell while she lowered her hand and looked down at it with a frown. "Did I do it wrong? Yuri showed me how to do it. He said I should show you this and tell you it's a message for you from him."

Flynn's face strained, trying not to flip out in front of Lady Estellise. "Did he now," he said in a forcibly flat voice.

"What does it mean?" she asked. "Is it… bad?"

"Yes, Estellise, it is a very impolite gesture," he said. He could not _believe_ that Yuri would teach her such a thing. Actually, come to think of it, he could believe it and that made him more determined than ever to have as little to do with this new and certainly-not-improved Yuri.

"How is it impolite? What message did Yuri send you?"

Flynn furrowed his brow, trying to figure out a way out of this one. If he didn't tell her, Estellise and her voracious appetite for knowledge would no doubt go around asking anyone else who might know, and Flynn didn't want to think of the indecent responses she might get from the crew. "It means… well… it's very rudely telling the recipient of the gesture that they are unappreciated and should go away."

Estellise looked up at him with worried eyes. "If Yuri told me to give you that message, does that mean he's as unhappy with you as you are with him?"

"Yes, I believe he is," Flynn said.

"That's too bad," Estellise said. "I can't imagine ever being so upset with you."

Flynn raised an eyebrow. "Am I so perfect?"

She laughed and said, "No, that's not what I mean. But, you're the only real friend I have and I couldn't imagine ever being angry with my best friend."

"Well, I hope I never do anything to anger you."

"Don't worry, I'm sure you won't."

"You seem to be making friends on this ship, though," Flynn said.

She nodded enthusiastically. "Oh, yes! Rita is simply amazing, isn't she? She's so smart and tough and she's so different from anyone I've ever met before. Don't you think she's just wonderful?"

Flynn had a vivid mental image of a tiny teenage girl cackling like mad as she waved guns around and shot everything in sight. "Uh… yes. Wonderful."

"We had a picnic on the quarterdeck today with Judith. It was so nice. I've never had girl friends before. No offense, Flynn."

"Believe me, none taken," he said with a smile. "I'm happy to be your confidant, but I fear I lack the necessary requirements to properly engage in 'girl talk'."

"I'm surprised Judith dresses the way she does. I could never imagine showing that much skin. Have you seen the way she… well… _bounces?_"

"Uh…" To be entirely honest, Flynn didn't pay much attention to Judith. He had just never been able to see the appeal in women as anything more than friends. He _did_ see the appeal in handsome men, but since such relationships went against the goddess and imperial law, he tried to avoid thoughts about romance in general.

Estellise didn't seem to notice Flynn's discomfort as she dreamily said, "I wish _I_ could bounce…"

"Uh, yes, well, I can assure you that you have many other sterling qualities, even if, ahem, 'bouncing' does not feature among them." Sometimes Flynn thought that he should be far more grateful than he was that Estellise was making new friends with other girls, because as much as he cared about her and enjoyed spending time with her, he did not particularly want to talk about what could only be described as girl stuff.

"That's true," Estellise said. "Rita doesn't bounce either, and I think she's pretty. Don't you think she's pretty, Flynn?"

"I… suppose." Flynn thought she was both terrifying and too young to think about in a romantic way without feeling sleazy.

Luckily, he was saved from thinking any further about Rita's alleged prettiness by a bang and crashed from the deck above, which was followed by shouting. "Oh, great," he said, looking up. "Why am I not surprised that that is coming from the direction of Yuri's room?"

"Oh no!" Estellise hopped to her feet. "I hope he didn't get hurt again. I need to go check on him."

Flynn followed her out of the room. He was more concerned about the shouting, because he was pretty sure that sounded like Ragou's voice. Somehow, that didn't surprise him either. He and Estellise hurried up the steps to the gun deck. They arrived just as Karol, Rita, and Judith came down from the top deck. Ragou exited the captain's cabin, half-dragging a furious and struggling Yuri with him.

"Let go of me, you bastard!" Yuri shouted, trying to fight back without hurting his stomach.

"Captain Flynn!" Ragou said when he saw him. "Good!"

"What in the world are you doing?" Flynn asked, striding forward.

Ragou shoved Yuri, who stumbled forward clutching his gut before dropping to his knees.

"Magistrate Ragou, you can't do that!" Estellise said, rushing to Yuri's side. "Yuri, are you ok?"

"I'm fine," he grumbled. "No thanks to that bastard."

"Captain Flynn, I want this man flogged," Ragou said.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?!" Rita said.

Yuri glared at Flynn, who looked to Ragou and tried to explain calmly, "Sir, I am not the captain of this vessel. I do not have the authority to order a flogging. In fact, the very man you want flogged is the one you'd need permission from, and I doubt he's going to give it."

Yuri grabbed Estellise's arms and she helped him to his feet. He glared fire at Ragou and said, "Someone's going to get their ass kicked tonight, that's for sure."

"Everybody, calm down," Judith said without a hint of agitation. "Ragou, what did Yuri do to upset you?"

"He ate my bird!" Ragou shouted.

"I did not!" Yuri replied, equally angry.

"What!?" Karol said. "What are you talking about?"

"My beloved Zagi is missing," Ragou said. "After this scoundrel made numerous threats on his life, it's no great wonder what happened to him. He _murdered_ my parrot!"

"Yuri?" Karol said. "Did you?"

"No!" Yuri said. "He's off his rocker. I haven't seen that hell spawn since he tried to bite my finger off." He held up his hand, which was wrapped in a bandage. "I spent the rest of the day being irritated because I couldn't use my hand to do anything, so I don't know how you think I could have hunted down and murdered a parrot one-handed."

"He has a point," Judith said. "Bird hunting takes speed and agility, both of which Yuri lacks in his current state."

"Well, _somebody_ killed my bird," Ragou said. "He is nowhere to be seen, and there is nowhere he could have flown to."

"It wasn't me," Yuri said. "Trust me, if I had killed that little bastard I'd keep his head around as a trophy."

"Listen to him!" Ragou said, pointing furiously as his face gradually reddened. "He's practically admitting his guilt!"

"Yes," Flynn said, "if 'it wasn't me' is how a confession sounds to you." He shook his head and added, "Stop looking to me to work this out, Magistrate. I told you, I have no authority on this ship."

"Excuse me." A new voice entered the scene. Flynn looked over his shoulder and saw Ioder approaching them. "Councilman Ragou, what is going on?"

Ragou straight up straight and said, "My Lord, this lowlife murdered my beloved pet and now insists on lying about it. What's more, his crew persists in believing him!"

Ioder frowned. "Mr. Lowell, did you harm Ragou's parrot?"

"I'm only going to say this one more time." Yuri glared at Ragou and said as firmly as he could, "I didn't touch your damn bird!"

"I see," Ioder said. "Do you think it's possible that another member of your crew harmed Ragou's bird?"

Karol, Rita, and Judith frowned, deep in thought. Karol rubbed his chin and said, "I guess it's possible. I don't want to believe it, but I know it wasn't any of us."

Ioder nodded. "We should interview the crew and see if we can get to the bottom of this. Killing a parrot is hardly a serious offense-"

"It should be!" Ragou said. "Harming my precious pets should be a capital offense."

Ioder was either impervious to agitation or simply better at masking it than everyone else on the deck. "That may be so," he said diplomatically, "but as it stands, it is not. We will get to the bottom of this for clarity's sake, and then allow the officers of the _Brave Vesperia_ to discipline the offender however they see fit." He turned to Yuri and said, "Is that acceptable to you?"

Yuri nodded. "Yeah, I can swing that."

"Good," Ioder said. "Then I will allow you to make the necessary arrangements."

The investigation centred out of the captain's office, which was right next door to his cabin. Flynn had a feeling Yuri wanted to get to the bottom of this even more than Ragou did, because as long as they had to interview the crew, he was stuck sitting next to him at the small desk. Judith was outside, organizing the grumpy crew who were unhappy about being dragged away from the evening free time for this. Karol sat on the edge of the desk near Yuri, while Rita sat with Flynn and Estellise on the side of the room, observing. So far, no one knew anything about Zagi. Some of them hadn't even known he was Ragou's parrot, and just figured someone else on the crew had brought him aboard. Nobody ever paid the bird much mind, because Zagi tended to ignore everyone who was not Yuri.

"Do you think maybe Zagi is just lost somewhere and we'll find him ok?" Estellise asked.

"Why do you care so much about a dumb bird?" Rita asked.

Estellise pouted. "He's just a little parrot. What if he got stuck somewhere and he's all alone and scared?"

Rita snorted. "Like, stuck in the old fish room where we found Ragou?"

Flynn told himself not to smile because what Yuri had done that first day was incredibly unprofessional. Given that Flynn wasn't overly fond of Ragou either, though, he couldn't keep a guilty smile off his lips as he thought about that afternoon. Yuri had insisted he had no idea where Ragou could have gone, claiming he gave him directions to his cabin and that was all. After a thorough search of the ship, they'd finally found the man pounding on the door near the hold, screaming bloody murder and smelling like a tuna salad left in the sun for a week. He claimed Yuri had given him false directions as sabotage. Yuri claimed he'd given flawless directions and that only an idiot could get lost. Not a single one of them believed Yuri for one second, but nobody protested when Karol said the officially accepted explanation was that Ragou must have gotten lost.

"I'm just glad everyone has stopped shouting," Estellise said. "I know Ragou doesn't know that Yuri's injured, but throwing him to the ground like that could have seriously set his recovery back."

"Yes," Flynn said, "I suppose we should thank Master Ioder for stepping in with the diplomatic approach."

Estellise nodded. "He's so much better at this sort of thing than I am. That's why you support him, right, Flynn?"

Flynn turned his head to look at her. She didn't seem upset about the question at all. I was true that Admiral Alexei, and by extension the Imperial Navy as a whole, supported Ioder taking the throne over Estellise. Flynn would have supported Ioder anyway, even if he wasn't pulled along by the navy's wishes. He loved Estellise dearly, but he felt Ioder was simply better suited for the position. "We've talked about this, haven't we?" he said. "It's nothing personal against you-"

"I know. I'm not mad," she said. "I'm not really sure I want the position anyway."

"What's this all about?" Rita asked, tearing her eyes away from the man Ragou was fervently accusing of bird murder to look at Estelle. "Isn't who takes the throne decided by genetics and who was born first and all that?"

"Not in this case," Flynn said. "Neither Lady Estellise nor Master Ioder are the direct child of the former emperor, so they both have an equal claim to the throne."

"It hardly even matters at the present time," Estellise said. "Dein Nomos, the Imperial Sword, went missing ten years ago when the last emperor died. We can't crown a new ruler until we reclaim the sword."

"I remember hearing something about that," Rita said, her eyes drifting to the ceiling thoughtfully. "The emperor… his ship went down, right?"

Estellise nodded, while in front of them Yuri was tiredly explaining to Ragou that George the rigger did not have any history of avian homicide and that the fact that the sails were currently in their proper order meant he had definitely been doing his job all day and not sneaking off to murder pets.

"The emperor's ship," Estellise said, "was called the _Atherum_. It was on its way to Muzaeli Island so he could formally pay his respects to all the civilians killed in the Mt. Temza eruption and battle. There was a huge storm, and the _Atherum_ was blown off course. Its escort ships tried to catch up to it, but they were too late. Lightning struck the mast in the storm, and the whole ship caught fire. The navy ships could only watch through their telescopes as it sunk to the bottom of the sea, taking the emperor and Dein Nomos with it."

"Yeah, that sounds familiar," Rita said. "I still think it's pretty stupid that you can't crown a ruler without some sword. What are you going to do if you never get it back?"

"We'll reclaim it eventually," Flynn said. "Admiral Alexei has promised that recovering the sword is a priority. Unfortunately, the only group with the technology to pull treasure up from the seafloor is the guild Ruin's Gate, so we've been forced to commission them to search for it."

"Krityans could do it better, I bet," Rita.

"We couldn't ask Krityans," Estellise whispered in shock. She glanced around to see if Judith was in earshot. "They're sacred."

Rita snorted. "Judith doesn't seem very sacred."

"But you know the story, don't you?" Estellise asked. "When the Great Flood came, the goddess took the form of a Krityan woman and led the people to salvation in the mountaintops."

"Everyone knows that story, Estellise," Rita said.

"I told you to call me Estelle," she said with a pout.

"Yeah, whatever."

"You too, Flynn."

He smiled slightly and said, "I'm afraid you'll always be Lady Estellise to me."

She sighed heavily. "You two are no fun at all."

After hours of interrogations and arguments, no culprit was found. Nobody on the ship had any idea what might have happened to Zagi, and they were forced to conclude that perhaps he had flown too far beyond the ship and wasn't strong enough to make it back. Nobody was entirely convinced by this explanation, but it was the only thing they could think of.

Ragou was the least person convinced. "Captain Flynn," he said as everyone else filed out of the room, "I cannot believe you of all people will stand by and watch this affront to justice. This Yuri Lowell character _clearly_ murdered my bird."

Flynn was tired and ready to put this whole matter behind him. It took great effort to maintain his decorum as he responded. "I understand your concerns, sir, but there is no evidence that Yuri was involved. Besides, this matter really is out of my hands. I have no more authority on this ship than you do."

"That's right," Yuri said, pausing behind him. "Seriously, I'm the captain of this ship. What would you even do to me if I _did_ kill your bird? Why would I need to lie to you?"

"You'll pay for this," Ragou seethed, and then stormed away.

Yuri sighed and shook his head. "I just don't understand why people don't seem to like me."

"I can't possibly imagine," Flynn said in a dry voice.

"Hey, Estelle, will you still give me laudanum for hand stitches?"

"Do you still want it?" she asked, turning to him quickly.

"This whole deal with Ragou is giving me a headache," Yuri said in annoyance. "My hand hurts, my stomach hurts, and I just want to go to sleep."

"Yes, that's fine," she said. "Go get ready for bed all I'll bring it up, ok?"

"Yeah. Thanks a lot." Judith appeared at his side to give him something to lean on, and he left the room.

Flynn, Estellise, and Rita left right behind him, going down to the lower deck to their own cabins. They crossed the sea of hammocks hanging in the dark open space to the group of cabins at the aft end of the ship, and Rita said goodnight as she headed to her own room.

Flynn paused outside Estellise's door to say goodnight, but she said, "Wait a minute, Flynn." She pulled the bottle of laudanum out of her chest, poured a small amount into a cup and then handed the cup to Flynn. "Why don't you take it to Yuri?"

"I don't think he wants to see me."

"I think you two should try to work things out."

Flynn sighed. "Fine, I'll take it, but I don't think he'll be happy it's me."

"Good. Oh, and can you give him a message for me?"

"Very well. What is it?"

"Tell him…" Estelle frowned and held up her middle finger. "Don't take advantage of me."

Flynn stared at her hand in shock, struggling to hold in gales of laughter. She was clearly serious about her message, and wouldn't appreciate him laughing at her efforts. He reached forward and gently wrapped his hands around hers, pushing the finger down. "Lady Estellise, you really shouldn't pick up that habit."

"It's a useful gesture," she said.

"Yes, but I don't think the Council will be too happy that you've learned it." He had a feeling they wouldn't find it half as funny as he did.

"Well, tell Yuri anyway."

"If you insist."

"Go on," Estellise said, pushing his back. "You two used to be such good friends. It breaks my heart to see you fight now."

"If you insist." He made his way back to the stairs, dreading the conversation he was inevitably going to have. They hadn't had a proper conversation since the night of their argument, and Flynn wasn't looking forward to replicating that.

At the door, he knocked and entered after Yuri called, "Yeah!" Inside, he found Yuri sitting on the edge of the bed with his shirt pulled up to his chest, unwinding the bandages around his waist.

"What are you doing?" Flynn asked.

Yuri glanced up. "Where's Estelle?"

"She told me to bring you this." He sat the cup down on the table. "Are you supposed to be doing that?"

Yuri's glance turned annoyed. "I thought you said you were going to stop acting like you know best all the time?"

"Sorry," Flynn said. "Forgive me for being concerned about your health."

"Whatever. Estelle said to take the bandages off at night to let it breathe. I don't think she meant it literally, but I'll let you know if my stomach starts taking breaths all on its own."

He tossed the bandages aside, revealing the ugly, still-healing scar on his abdomen. Flynn's stomach tightened just looking at, partially with empathetic pain and partially with guilt for bringing Sodia onto the ship in the first place. Yuri let his shirt drop, and Flynn looked away. "How do you feel? Is it healing well?"

Yuri shrugged. "Estelle says it's fine."

"Do you still need the laudanum?"

"I wouldn't have asked for it if I didn't."

Flynn frowned. "Don't you think you should start easing off of it?"

"What's it to you?"

"I'm concerned. You're still taking just as much in the evening, but your pain level has significantly decreased since the first few days. I know opium can be highly addictive."

Yuri glared at him. "Are you trying to accuse me of being a drug addict?"

"No," Flynn said quickly. "I'm just worried that you're becoming dependant on laudanum when you should be weaning yourself off."

"Funny, that sounds exactly like accusing me of being a drug addict."

Flynn crossed his arms. "Fine, call it what you like. I'm worried about you."

"Why?" he asked in annoyance. "And here I thought you were sickened by me."

His anger bristled. "I don't even know, since you persist in aggravating me." He knew what it was. Deep down, he wanted Yuri to change and become a better person, someone he could be proud to call his friend again. It just seemed like every step he took was in the wrong direction, and that infuriated him.

"I just got fresh stitches today," Yuri said. "I've been dealing with it all afternoon because I don't want to be high around everyone else, but I don't know how much longer I can deal with this throbbing and if you have a problem with that, take it up with Estelle."

Flynn shook his head with a sigh. "Do what you want. Oh, also, Lady Estellise sends her regards."

"Oh?"

"She told me to flip you off and tell you not to take advantage of her."

Yuri burst into laughter, and clutched his gut. "Ahaha - ow - aha - ouch - why would you - haha - ugh - make me laugh when it still hurts?"

"I don't find it that funny." He tried to pretend that it hadn't been a great strain to not burst into laughter when Estellise had flipped him off with such a determined face.

Yuri finally stilled his laughter and wiped a tear from his eye. "You know, for a noble, that girl is pretty great."

Flynn couldn't help smiling. "She's certainly a handful."

"Useful, too," Yuri said. "Not many people can say they saved my life." Yuri grabbed the cup off the table and gulped down the laudanum. "Ahh. Yep, still tastes disgusting."

"Goodnight," Flynn said. "I hope your hand heals soon. Maybe if you're unrealistically lucky, you won't acquire a third injury once that one heals."

Yuri scowled. "What is that supposed to mean?"

"Only that I've met black cats with better luck than you."

Yuri sighed. "I would be mad at you if that weren't completely true."

* * *

Two days later, Yuri sat on the deck. He leaned against the mainmast, pretending he was sitting because it was comfortable and not because the struggle to get up here had worn him out. He took solace in the fact that he'd made the entire walk by himself, without having to lean on anybody. That was why it had taken him so long and left his stomach so sore, but at least he'd made it.

Thankfully, Estelle and Judith joined him in sitting so he didn't have to look up at them. The sun was high and warm in the sky, and the wind was strong as it blew them toward Heliord. Yuri had a feeling Flynn and Estelle were going to leave once they reached Heliord in a couple of days, and that left him feeling sad. He wished he'd had time to work things out with Flynn, but with the way things had been going so far, he didn't see that happening. He was more concerned with Estelle. She was such a nice girl, surprisingly friendly and helpful for a spoiled princess. Yuri couldn't think of anyone who had ever put so much time and effort into worrying about his health before, and he'd be sad to see her go.

"So, you know how to swim, Yuri?" she was asking him now.

"That's right," Yuri said. "Karol, Rita, and I all got lessons from Judy a few years back."

"Wow, I wish I knew how to swim," Estelle said. "Seems like it would be convenient on a ship."

"Not necessarily," Yuri said. "We learned because we figured with Judy and Ba'ul around, we stood a fair chance of getting rescued if we went overboard. For a normal sailor, though, the chance of getting rescued if go overboard is abysmally low. All knowing how to swim will do is keep you alive long enough to get totally exhausted, prolong the inevitable, and stick around for the sharks."

"Oh…" Her smile slipped. "I suppose that's why Flynn never learned, either."

Judith nodded. "As far as I know, it's very rare for humans to learn."

"I suppose you never had any problem swimming, Judith," Estelle said.

Judith smiled. "That's right; I was born underwater."

"So… do Krityans live underwater all the time normally?"

"Hm…" Judith tilted her head in though. "Technically our villages are underwater, but they're in air pockets in underwater caves, or completely enclosed in airtight buildings. So we are underwater, but also breathing air."

"Oh, I see," Estelle said. "Why do you need to live in air pockets if you can breathe underwater?"

Judith laughed. "We can't breathe underwater. We aren't fish, you know. We can't just hold our breath for a very long time."

"How long?"

"Usually about ten to fifteen minutes."

"Wow…" she stared at Judith with wide eyes. "I can barely hold my breath for thirty seconds! Can humans learn to do that too?"

"I don't know," Judith said. "We can always try."

"I don't think that's a good idea," Yuri said, cutting in. "I get the feeling Flynn wouldn't be too happy if we experimented with submerging Estelle in water for fifteen minutes to see what happens."

"We should probably teach you how to swim, first," Judith said.

Estelle's eyes lit up. "Can I? Will you teach me?"

Yuri said, "I don't know if we'll have time before we reach Heliord."

"Oh…" Estelle said, her enthusiasm dying. "That's probably true." Another thought occurred to her, and she said, "You know, Judith, I don't think I've ever seen you with a tail. Do you not like switching?"

"I just can't be bothered," she said. "I have it locked up in a chest and don't bother putting it on unless I really need it."

"Put it on?" She cocked her head to the side. "Like a coat?"

"It's something like that," Judith said. "You see, Krityans switch to legs by taking off the whale skin fin like a pelt. We switch back by wrapping it around our legs again."

"Whoa…" Estelle said, staring at Judith in amazement. "That's incredible! How does it work?"

"Magic," Judith said simply.

"In other words," Yuri said, "even you don't know."

Judith frowned at him. "Do you know how your muscles know to move?"

"Uh… no," Yuri said.

"Then why do you expect me to know how this works?"

"Huh. I guess I never thought of it like that."

"So, Judith," Estelle said, "where do you keep your tail?"

"That's a secret," she said with that enigmatic smile of hers.

Yuri thought himself pretty good at reading people, but even after knowing Judy for three years he still never knew what was going on in that head of hers. "Don't worry about it, Estelle," Yuri said. "Even I don't know where she hides it."

"Is it important to keep it hidden?" Estelle asked.

Judith nodded. "It's very important. If you possess a Krityan's tail, you can force them to obey your commands."

Estelle gasped. "That's terrible."

"That's why I keep mine hidden," Judith said simply.

"Yuri!"

He craned his neck to see Karol racing across the main deck toward them. Yuri frowned at the panicked look on his face, and grabbed the railing by the mast to pull himself to his feet. When Karol arrived in front of him, panting, he asked, "What is it, Captain?"

"You know that Fortune's Market ship we saw on the horizon this morning?" Karol said.

Yuri nodded. Ted up in the crow's nest had spotted a ship sailing perpendicular toward them this morning. It flew the Fortune's Market flag, so they assumed it was on its way to Capua Torim.

"It's almost upon us now," Karol said.

"It's not going to hit us, is it?" Estelle asked.

Karol shook his head. "No, but they switched flags! They're not from Fortune's Market at all!"

"Dammit," Yuri said. Flying a false flag was one of the most underhanded moves in the book. "So now that they're close enough we can't run away, who have they decided to tell us they are?"

"It's the _Gunner's Revenge_, Yuri!" Karol said, fear in his eyes.

"The what?" Estelle asked, looking nervously between Yuri and Karol's faces.

Yuri answered with a scowl. "The flagship of the Blood Alliance. Barbos' ship." He took a deep breath, and tightened his grip on the railing. Just his luck. He usually didn't mind scuffles with the Blood Alliance. It gave him a chance to really get his blood flowing and the adrenaline rush of a pitched battle was as good a drug as opium. But going up against Barbos himself, while Yuri could barely walk and couldn't hold a sword in his busted left hand? He wasn't going to be able fight well in this battle himself, so he'd have to put his faith in the rest of the crew. "Karol, tell the crew to get ready. Tell Rita to get the cannons prepared. With any luck we can broadside them before they board us. Estelle, go let Flynn know we're about to tussle with some _real_ pirates."


	8. Prepare for Trouble

I... accidentally published this chapter before editing it. I am very sorry. It is better now, and hopefully this lapse of judgement won't happen again.

* * *

**Chapter Eight: Prepare for Trouble**

Ioder sat in the only chair in his cabin, while Flynn sat on a crate. Ioder's cabin was usually used for storing extra clothing, which Flynn supposed was a step up from his room. The barrels of salted fish in his own cabin were far from the most overbearing fish smell he'd ever encountered, but several barrels of fish were not something that could be forgetting easily. He had to wonder why they'd given him that cabin when there were clearly several other non-fish-infested rooms, and had a feeling Yuri had something to do with it. Oh well, at least he hadn't spent an afternoon locked in the fish room below decks. Even now, they'd put Ragou in the cabin as far aft as he could get, not so coincidentally as far away from the rest of them as possible.

"I don't suppose you know what Admiral Alexei wanted with me?" Ioder asked.

Flynn shook his head. "I do not, I'm afraid. I'm not quite high enough ranked to be privy to that kind of intelligence." He hadn't even known Ioder had been summoned as well. It was possible they'd been summoned for different reasons, but the likelihood that the admiral would summon both imperial candidates at the same time for separate reasons were dismally low.

"Just wait," Ioder said. "I have a feeling you'll be rising high in the coming years."

"Thank you for your confidence in me, Your Highness. I will strive to live up to it." He scooted back on the crate, trying to get more comfortable. The wooden edge dug into his thighs. "What I do know is that Admiral Alexei is planning… something. I have no idea what it might be, and I can't put my finger on how I know it… I can feel it on the wind like the static before a storm."

Ioder nodded slowly. "I know what you mean. The fleets are on the move. I think it has something to do with Dein Nomos."

"Do you think he's found it?" Flynn asked.

"Not yet, I think," Ioder said. "But I think he thinks he's getting close. If Dein Nomos is recovered, either Estellise or I can ascend the throne and this decade of confusion and headless leadership can end."

It would of course be Ioder installed on the throne. If Flynn had to guess, he suspected the ascension to the throne was the matter Alexei wished to discuss with Ioder and Estellise. Alexei, of course, supported Ioder. Was he planning to convince Estellise to officially abdicate her right so that there would be no disagreements once he found Dein Nomos? Surely he didn't need to go through so much trouble. Estellise already barely wanted the title, and if Alexei was the one to recover the missing sword, his influence in the selection of the next emperor would be astronomical. Flynn had little doubt that when the succession crisis finally ended, it would be Emperor Ioder he was swearing allegiance to.

"I only wish the admiral felt he could share details about his plans with us," Ioder said. "As much as I trust his wisdom, I must admit I'm curious."

"Perhaps that is why he wanted to meet with you?" Flynn suggested. "To inform you of the situation." He shared Ioder's impatience. Something big was coming, and even though he had every confidence that Alexei's machinations would lead the empire to nothing but prosperity, he was dying to know the details. For now, though, he'd have to sit back and patiently wait for his orders.

"That's possible," Ioder said. "It's likely that-"

Before he could go on, the door burst open. "Flynn!"

He spun around on the crate so quickly that if his pants were thinner he'd be worried about getting splinters in a very uncomfortable place. "Lady Estellise? What's-"

"Pirates!" she said, her hand still on the door handle. "There are pirates coming!"

Ioder stood up. "Pirates?"

She nodded quickly. "We thought it was a ship from Fortune's Market, but they put up a false flag and they're actually from the Blood Alliance. Yuri says they're here for a fight!"

Flynn stared at her for a couple of seconds to process this and come up with a plan, and then looked to Ioder. "The two of you need to remain safe. If there are indeed pirates coming, you must both stay hidden in your cabins with the doors locked and barricaded. I will do everything in my power to protect-"

"No, Flynn," Estellise said. "If there's going to be a battle, that means there will be wounded. I'm going to prepare the sickbay for wounded and I'll care for the injured throughout the battle."

"Lady Estellise, it isn't safe."

"I know," she said with a tremor of fear. "But I'm the only one who can help them. I won't sit in my room when people are getting hurt and I can help."

Flynn didn't bother arguing. There wasn't time and he already knew he would lose this one. "If you insist. Master Ioder, can I at least convince you to stay safe?"

"Yes," he said. "I'm afraid I would be no good in a fight at all."

"Alright," Flynn said. "Then you must stay here, lock the door, and don't come out until the fighting is over." A single wooden door would not be much protection against a truly determined force, but there was little else to do. He didn't want to send them to the hold, because if pirates came aboard that was likely the first place they'd go, looking for goods to steal. "I shall inform Magistrate Ragou of the situation, and then I will join the crew on deck for the battle."

"Goddess be with you," Ioder said.

Flynn and Estellise left the room, and Flynn heard a satisfying click of the lock when they were in the hallway. "Are you sure you don't want to keep yourself protected?" Flynn asked.

"I'm sure," she said. "I won't say I'm not scared, but… I have to do this."

Flynn smiled, thinking that she really was one of the most amazing women he'd ever met. "I understand. Good luck."

"Thank you. You too. Oh, if you see Yuri up there, make sure you tell him he had better sit this out."

Flynn briefly tried to imagine telling Yuri to sit something out. His imagination stopped with Yuri punching him in the face. "I don't know how well that will go over."

Estelle planted her fists on her hips. "You tell him from me! He's not allowed to run around yet, so he _definitely_ isn't allowed to fight in a battle."

Flynn wondered if arguing with Estellise or Yuri about this would be more difficult. For now he had things to do, so he'd go with Yuri. Besides, he agreed with Estellise. "Fine," he said. "I'll try to convince him."

"Good!" She dashed across the deck to the sickbay at the bow.

Flynn went the other way, down the hall to the last cabin on the right. He knocked and then opened the door. "Magistrate Ragou?"

"What do you want?" he snapped, looking up from a booklet he was busy scribbling in. He had even less furniture in his room than Ioder, and had to use a crate as both a chair and a desk.

"I need to inform you that a pirate ship from the Blood Alliance is on its way here and will attack soon. We will do our best to repel the invaders."

Ragou's moustache trembled as his eyes widened. "A p-pirate ship, you say?"

"Yes. Their ship is bigger than ours, but with superior tactics I think victory is not out of the question for us. I recommend you remain locked in your cabin until the fighting is over."

"Y-yes, I'll… I'll do that," he said fearfully.

"Very well. I will see you again when the pirates are dealt with." Sticking around to comfort a terrified noble was low on his list of priorities.

Leaving Ragou behind, he strode down the hall to the steps. On the gun deck, Rita ran around shouting orders at the crew. All fourteen cannons on the port side were being loaded in preparation for a broadside. Flynn had never seen Rita more terrifying than when she furiously shouted at a woman for taking too long to prepare the powder in 'Bethany'.

Flynn kept going up, to the main deck where the crew not operating the cannons were armed to the teeth with cutlasses, pistols, axes, belaying pins, and anything else that might be used as a weapon. He walked up the steps to the quarterdeck to get a better view of the opposing ship. The _Gunner's Revenge_ was close enough now that Flynn could see her crew doing the same thing. Pirates ran around the deck like rats, and he knew her own cannons must also be preparing for a broadside. He could only pray that Rita got hers out first.

"Nice of you to join us," Yuri said, coming up behind him.

"Do you seriously intend to fight?" Flynn asked, turning to him. Yuri had his cutlass in his right hand. When they were younger, Yuri had always been able to switch hands when it came to stick-fighting, an advantage Flynn felt was unfair. Yuri tended to prefer his left, though, and Flynn wondered if the difference in dexterity was enough to seriously dampen his fighting ability if he was forced to use his right for the entire battle.

"There's no way I'm sitting this one out," Yuri said.

"You can barely walk," Flynn said.

"I can walk just fine!"

"You're leaning on the capstan to stay on your feet."

Yuri sneered at him. "It's just so much more comfortable."

"Lady Estellise told me to inform you that you are not to participate in this battle under any condition." He had little hope that invoking her command would sway him, but it was worth a shot.

"Then it's a good thing she's my doctor and not my captain."

"Yuri! Speaking as your…" he hesitated, not sure what exactly Yuri was to him. Yuri wasn't exactly his friend, but he used to be and he still had lingering affection from those days. He settled on, "Old acquaintance, you're going to get yourself killed. Speaking as your comrade, you're going to be a burden on everyone else and get the rest of us killed."

Yuri's sneer thickened. "It's a good thing you're not my captain, either, then. Get down to the main deck with the others and be ready for battle."

Flynn stared at him for a few angry seconds, and then said, "Just be careful," and walked away.

* * *

"Come on!" Rita shouted, racing down the length of the gun deck. "Get the cannonballs ready!" She had the strongest men on the crew carrying their extra cannonballs and supplies of shot powder up from the hold. She wished they had more time to prepare. It took four people to operate each cannon, and getting all fourteen primed and ready to fire in one long consecutive barrage took time - time they didn't have.

"Helen!" Rita said when she reached the forward end of the deck. "Is Roberta ready to fire?"

"Uh, yes, Rita," Helen said.

Rita didn't know why everyone always gave her a strange look when she referred to the cannons by name. What was she supposed to call them, 'cannon number thirteen'? That wasn't descriptive at all! Every cannon was unique, and fired slightly differently. They all took individual care and attention, and she didn't see why this was so hard to understand. As far as Rita was concerned, cannons were easier to understand and work with than people.

"Good," Rita snapped. "Ben down at the aft end is dragging his feet with Olive but we should be ready to fire once the _Gunner_ comes into range." She watched the rival ship approach through the port hole. Timing a broadside took almost as much care as dealing with the cannons themselves. If they fired too soon, the shots would splash uselessly into the ocean before hitting the ship, or at the very least pepper the hull without the force to break through. If they waited too long, the other ship would fire first. A single broadside could cripple a ship, so waiting for the ship to come close enough for a powerful attack was a dangerous gamble. Luckily, Rita considered herself pretty darn good at gambling.

She stood next to Roberta, resting her hand on her cool, black body as she watched the _Gunner's Revenge_ approach through the gun port. "Come on…" Rita whispered to herself. The _Gunner _was getting close now. Through its gun ports, Rita could make out movement as the pirates prepared their own broadside. They were close enough that a shot would hit, but not close enough that it would adequately cripple the ship.

"Ben!" Rita shouted. "Is Olive ready to go yet?!"

"Give me two seconds!" the man shouted back.

Rita looked out the port. Dammit, that ship was so close. They needed to fire _now_. She darted away from Roberta and stood several feet back from the cannons, ready to give the order as soon as that idiot finished preparing the cannon.

"Ready!" Ben shouted across the deck.

Rita opened her mouth and took a deep breath, and then the rival ship fired. The deck exploded.

* * *

Cannonballs bombarded the hull. The ship rocked, nearly throwing Judith off her feet. She dug the butt of her spear into the deck for balance while around her, sailors hit the deck with shouts. Barbos' ship pulled up next to them and a second bay of cannons went off. These aimed high, smashing through the beams of the mast and sending showers of splinters down on them. Judith ducked and covered her head with her arms, which were peppered with tiny fragments of wood.

While they were distracted hiding from the splinters, the pirates made their move. The ships were close enough now that they could leap across the gap, armed to the teeth. Judith frowned slightly, lifted her spear, and ran forward to meet them.

Spear met cutlass with a _clang_. The woman she faced snarled and swung her blade around, but Judith moved too quickly. She ducked, planted her spear in the deck, and used it as support to leap into the air, plant both her feet into the woman's chest, and smash her back. The pirate shouted in alarm and flailed her arms for a split second before toppling back and falling into the gap between the ships.

Judith smiled, and moved on to the next one. She couldn't keep the grin off her face as she whirled and stabbed. She enjoyed travelling the world with the _Brave Vesperia_, but nothing got her blood pumping like a good battle. The next pirate went down as easily as the first, and the third one managed to land only a light scratch on her shoulder before his chest was rudely introduced to the head of Judith's spear. She twisted and yanked it out, and then kicked him off the railing and into the water for good measure.

The cut on her shoulder only got her adrenaline racing more. There seemed to be an endless wave of pirates trying to get onto the ship, and she dispatched them one after another. Her long antennae whipped through the air as she whirled around. She stepped carefully to avoid slipping on the blood staining the deck, and used her spear as both a weapon and a prop to facilitate her acrobatics.

_Fighting is a lot like dancing_, she thought as she rammed the butt of her spear into a woman trying to sneak up behind her. She punched the man in front of her in the jaw, spun in a circle and slashed the woman's throat, and came back around to find the man's defences dropped as he nursed his face. _Except there's a winner_, she added as she stabbed the man in the gut.

Yuri was proof enough that such an injury was survivable, so she grabbed the collar of his shirt and used the spear still lodged in his gut as a second handle and tossed him over the side with a satisfied smile.

The trouble was that the rest of the crew was not as skilled as Judith. They could hold their own in a skirmish, but few of them were experienced warriors. They were stragglers picked up in port towns or old friends of Yuri's from Dahngrest. There were a few ex-navy sailors in their ranks, but that wasn't enough to hold off the onslaught of experienced pirates from the strongest ship in the Blood Alliance.

The majority of the fighting had moved from the railings keeping the pirates off to the deck itself, keeping the pirates from gaining more ground and penetrating deeper into the ship. Judith let a small frown break though her battle serenity as the realization that this fight was not going in their favour sunk in.

Her frown deepened when she saw Yuri on the quarterdeck, leaning against the railing and swinging wildly at anyone who dared get near. That idiot. She was certain he shouldn't be fighting in his condition, but convincing him to sit out a battle was harder than convincing Rita that cannons didn't actually have thoughts and feelings of their own. Judith wanted to go help him, because even though he would never admit it he clearly needed help, but there were too many enemies in the way to get there easily.

There was nothing else to do but sigh and get back to work.

* * *

Karol swung his axe, but the pirate in front of him jumped back and avoided bisection. The force of Karol's attack kept him spinning, all the way around until he finally stopped himself nearly in the same position as he started. The pirate he'd missed too the chance to move in, but before he could attack, blue streaked through the air with an angry snarl and Repede smashed the pirate to the ground.

"Th-thanks, Repede!" Karol said. Repede didn't answer, since his mouth was full of pirate throat.

Karol didn't have time to chat anyway. The ship was overrun and he had to move on and keep fighting. He and a few other crew members stationed themselves at the stairs leading down to the gun deck to try to keep the Blood Alliance out. The deck was already slick with blood, but he didn't have time to check of the bodies littering the ground were more _Brave Vesperia_ or _Gunner's Revenge_.

He didn't have time to think clearly about anything, really, for which he was grateful. He wanted so badly to be a brave fighter like Yuri or Judith and he put up a strong face, but whenever he faced an opponent, his knees shook so much he could hardly see straight.

Repede growled and pounced at the next pirate. Karol hefted his axe and moved in to cover his back. A belaying pin whizzed overhead, and he took a moment to feel thankful he was so short. He smashed the blade of his axe into the man's torso just before the pirate could smash his pin down on Repede. Karol grimaced at the blood splattering out. Across the deck, he saw Judith spin and whirl with leaps and thrusts, and wished he could fight as artfully and fearlessly as her.

Looking at Judith had distracted him for only a moment, but it was a moment enough for a woman from the Blood Alliance to swing her cutlass at his head. His eyes went wide and he tried to heft his heavy axe fast enough to block it, and then someone else threw their arm up to stop the blade.

Flynn grunted as the blade slashed across his forearm, but while the woman's sword arm was occupied with his arm, Flynn thrust his sword into her chest. He yanked it out and she toppled to the ground. Flynn looked down at Karol and asked, "Are you alright?"

Karol nodded, staring at him in shock, before he finally found a small squeaky version of his voice. "Y-yeah…. Thanks…"

"Be more careful." Ignoring the blood running down his forearm, Flynn ran off to keep fighting.

Karol gritted his teeth and kept going. He would not let them capture his ship. The _Brave Vesperia_ was _theirs_, and they would die defending it.

* * *

Estelle had never been covered in this much blood. Every time she patched someone up, another wounded sailor was brought in. She was glad she'd stocked up on medical supplies in Luccia, because she'd gone through more bandages and stitches in the past half hour than she ever had in her life. There was no time to think about the horror of the blood flowing in rivers off the tables and pooling on the wooden floor, or to freak out when she saw bodies slashed open and organs spilling out. She could feel a scream building in the back of her throat but she had to maintain her composure because she was the only one here who could save these people.

The only time she nearly broke was the first time a man died on her table. She had tried - she had _really tried_ - to save him. She'd reached her trembling fingers into the bullet wound on his thigh to pinch the artery closed with her fingers, trying to buy time to get sutures in. She could feel the blood spurting out under her fingers, pumping out of his body with every beat of his heart. There was no time to remove the bullet before closing the wound, and already the pulses of blood flow became weaker. Less and less blood spurted out with every weakened beat, because he was running out of blood to lose.

"N-no!" she said in a trembling voice. "Please, stay with me!" His face was nearly white, his body still. The blood in the wound oozed out because his heart was no longer pumping it. She stood frozen for a few seconds, staring at his face and running through everything she'd done to figure out where she'd gone wrong. Surely she could have done something different to save this man. She didn't even know who he was, but he'd died with her hand still in his wound trying to save him and she had never felt like a greater failure.

There wasn't time to grieve. The doors burst open and another woman was dragged in, bleeding from a head wound. Estelle pulled her hand out of the man's wound, her fingers slick with blood. She gave his face one last look, swallowed heavily, and then turned to her next patient. There was no time to dwell on her failures when there were so many more wounded to treat.

There was no time to wash her hands between procedures, so she sufficed with wiping them on the old, stained apron she'd found stashed in the sickbay. It was more red than white now. She was exhausted, but there wasn't time to rest. In a way that was good, because she was pretty sure once she had time to sit quietly and think about everything she'd seen, she'd be a wreck.

The door slammed open and yet another man with yet another bullet wound was dragged in by Hanks and Ted. They had been her assistants throughout the battle, since they were either too old or too young to fight in the actual battle. She rushed toward them, passing Rita as she went. She'd patched Rita and the rest of the crew that survived the onslaught on the gun deck near the beginning of the battle. Rita was unconscious and had a deep gash on the top of her shoulder, but Estelle didn't think it was that bad. It could have been a lot worse - a couple inches to the right and the thick splinter would have gone through her throat. She now lay on one of the wooden cots that lined the sickbay.

Hanks and Ted lifted the man onto the operating table in the middle of the room. Estelle took a deep breath and got to work.

* * *

Yuri was beginning to think participating in this battle had been a poor decision. His wound had ached when he started, but after twenty minutes of forcing himself to move past the pain and give fighting his all, the ache had turned into a persistent throbbing, like something was burrowing into his stomach with blunt claws. Maybe Estelle had been right.

There was no time to regret his decisions now. Down on the main deck, Karol, Repede, and the others did their best to defend the entrances to the gun deck, while the handful of crew members left up here defended the quarterdeck stairs with all their strength. Every fibre of his being wanted to run in and join them, but for now he clung to the stern railing, taking deep breaths and cursing Sodia. The pain acting up from his old wound almost completely masked the numerous smaller injuries he'd acquired in the fighting. He didn't think any were serious, just superficial cuts and bruises, plus one near-miss with a gunshot that had left a burn on his shoulder, but they were certainly annoying.

He told himself he'd get up and throw himself into the fighting in a minute. He'd told himself that three minutes ago. The only positive was that a few pirates that glanced his way decided not to turn their attention from the crew fighting by the stairs. He was too injured to be a threat or waste time finishing off. Every time he tried moving away from the railing supporting his weight, his head spun and agony shot through his stomach and he clutched the smooth wood to keep from falling to his knees.

He felt so useless slumped here while his crew fought and died, but he couldn't help because of stupid, _stupid_ Sodia. Being able to fight was the one thing he could do to contribute, and she'd taken that away from him. He was not going to be able to continue running around today. That understanding sunk into his chest laced with frustration. He was so sick of being injured, but there wasn't anything he could do about it now.

He heard a shout from below, and looked over in confusion. Why the hell would voices come from down there? Below the railing was just a long drop to the ocean behind the ship. When he looked down, though, his heart skipped a beat and he swore. A lifeboat drifted at the back of the boat, holding a few pirates including Captain Barbos himself, with a long rope leading up to the smashed windows of the great cabin. The shout came from a blond person pushed out the window. Ioder hit the water with a splash, before being fished out seconds later by the pirates still in the lifeboat. Ioder gasped for breath and struggled against the pirates holding him.

In fury, Ioder shouted, "Release mmph!" One of the pirates covered his mouth with a large hand, muffling his cries for help.

Yuri looked over his shoulder; none of the rest of his crew had even noticed, since they were caught up in fighting the pirates still on the deck. Well, someone had to go after Ioder. He couldn't say he was particularly fond of the kid, but he seemed ok for a noble and being on Yuri's ship made him Yuri's responsibility. He couldn't let Barbos make off with an innocent person.

A surge of adrenaline shot through him, and he pulled his foot onto the railing, ignoring his protesting stomach. With his cutlass tight in hand, he pushed off from the railing and leapt down to the boat. Wind rushed past him and he braced himself for landing. The pirates noticed him seconds before he hit the boat. They had enough time to get out of the way so he landed on the wooden floor instead of a pirate, and the jolt of his landing nearly capsized the small boat.

The force of hitting the boat sent a shock through him that knocked the breath from his throat, but he pushed through the scorching agony in his stomach and slashed his sword at the nearest pirate. Ioder looked to him with hope in his eyes, but Yuri didn't have time to focus on him. There were five pirates in the boat and none of them had their weapons out. His element of surprise balanced out the fact that the shock of landing left him wanting to throw up and pass out.

The first pirate he'd stabbed was dead, or at least dying. He turned his attention to the big guy holding Ioder. He didn't need to take out all of them. If he freed Ioder and leapt into the water they could swim for it. He trusted that the pirates couldn't swim and wouldn't be able to follow them, and if they went deep enough bullets couldn't hit them. He raised his cutlass to attack, and then feet crashed into his head.

He'd forgotten about the pirates still up in the great cabin coming down the rope after Ioder. The first one to arrive kicked him in the head on the way down, throwing off his balance. This gave the man behind him the chance to wrap his arms under Yuri's armpits and hold him tight. Yuri grunted in frustration and tried to pull free, or at least reach around and stab him with the cutlass. It was hard to think of a rational escape plan when he was running on fumes of adrenaline and piercing agony in his stomach. The pirate who'd kicked him grabbed his wrist and brought his leg up, driving his knee into Yuri's abdomen.

For a few seconds Yuri couldn't see anything beyond a haze of white hot pain. His ears rang and the world spun and his muscles went slack. He might have screamed, but he couldn't be sure. The pirate hadn't hit the wound directly, but that was hardly any better. He had dropped his cutlass at some point, but he didn't have the strength to fight with it now anyway.

"Who is this guy?" boomed a gravelly voice that sounded at once too close and far away. Probably Barbos.

"Looks like an over-eager crew member, Captain" the pirate holding him said. He sat down one one of the wooden bench seats and Yuri dropped to his knees on the floor. "What should we do with him?"

"I demand that you release me!" Ioder said, managing to pull his face away from the pirate smothering him. "I'm warning you, the empire will bring its wrath upon you if you don't let me go! And release this man as well!"

Barbos laughed, his round belly shaking as sunlight glinted off the metal hook in place of his left hand. The pirates with free hands grabbed the oars and started rowing back to their own ship. As they got closer, a parrot fluttering down and landed on Barbos' shoulder. It squawked and fluttered its wings, and Yuri raised his head with great effort and frowned at the parrot. Was that…?

"Shout all you want, you royal brat," Barbos said as the lifeboat pulled up along the side of his ship. A rope ladder hung down to give them a way up. To the woman closest to the ladder, he said, "We got what we came for. As soon as you get up there, give the order to fire the signal cannon and retreat, and prepare the sails to head northeast."

"Aye-aye, Captain!" the woman said, grabbed the rope rungs and pulling herself up.

Barbos looked to the pirate still holding Yuri. The pirate held most of Yuri's weight, since he had only a tenuous grasp on consciousness. Dark shadows pressed in on all sides, tempting him with the promise of relief from the excruciating pain in his gut.

"We don't need any more prisoners," Barbos said, gesturing at Yuri with his hook. "Just throw him over the side."

"Aye-aye." The pirate holding Yuri hefted his weight and then shoved him.

His hip banged on the side of the boat seconds before his head hit the water. For the first few seconds, he did nothing but sink. His chest tightened, begging for air, and he kicked. _Dammit, I am _not_ going to drown_. If he surfaced right next to the boat they might just shoot him, so he held his breath a little longer and kicked, pushing himself back toward the _Brave Vesperia_. Only when his chest felt like it was about to burst did he push himself upward, gasping for breath near the stern of his ship. He treaded water and looked to the _Gunner's Revenge, _just in time to see them pull Ioder over the railing and onto the ship. Dammit. He couldn't even manage a stupid rescue mission.

He let himself slip underwater for a second. Everything hurt, chiefly his abdomen but a persistent ache settled in the rest of his muscles, making him feel less like a person who knew how to swim and more like a rock. No one even knew he was down here to throw him a ladder. Shit, how much longer could he tread water before passing out?

A shadow passed under him, and then something solid hit his feet. For a split second he thought he was about to get eaten by a sea monster, but then he recognized Ba'ul's rubbery back rising out of the water beneath him. He sighed in relief as Ba'ul surfaced, and collapsed on his squishy wet back.

_Dammit, stay awake, _he mentally screamed at himself. He needed to at least let the others know that Ioder had been kidnapped. He needed to let them know that Barbos had targeted them specifically to get Ioder, raising the question of how he'd known Ioder would be on this ship in the first place. He had a pretty good idea, because that goddess damned parrot perched smugly on Barbos' shoulder was way too familiar to be a coincidence. Barbos was heading northeast from here, and the others needed to know that if they were going to go after him and rescue Ioder.

He had so much he needed to tell Karol, or Flynn, or _anyone _but every muscle of his body lined up in front of his brain to lodge a complaint of workplace abuse and his mind dealt with it by shutting down operations for today.

* * *

A cannon boomed. Flynn shot his head around, looking for the impact and if dangerous splinters were flying near him. The blast didn't seem to have hit the ship, though. He wondered if they had intentionally missed, and then every pirate in the vicinity turned and headed back to their ship.

Flynn stood still, watching them retreat in confusion. He had never heard of pirates leaving when the fight was going in their favour before. They backed up, knocked _Brave Vesperia_ crew members out of the way, and jumped over the gap back to their ship. Flynn didn't have a problem with them retreating, but he'd really like to know what they were doing. He considered going after them, but a glance around the deck told him there was no point. All around him, members of the crew slumped to the ground nursing injuries or tending to wounded friends. An air of relief crossed the deck; no one was about to storm the other ship to finish the battle, and Flynn wasn't nearly foolhardy enough to do it alone. That kind of stupidity had always been Yuri's area.

Yuri. That idiot had been attempting to fight in his injured state. Flynn really hoped he hadn't hadn't gotten himself killed. He'd last seen Yuri on the quarterdeck, so he sheathed his sword and made his way in that direction. As he walked, he passed Karol sitting on the ground resting his head on his arms.

"Are you alright?" Flynn asked, pausing.

Karol raised his head. "Uh… yeah, I think so," he said. "I'm not hurt." He looked around the deck with pained eyes, which landed back on Flynn and the blood staining his forearm. "But… a lot of others did."

Flynn pulled his arm to his chest and gripped it in his other hand. "Injuries and casualties are unavoidable in a battle."

"I guess so…" Karol said, staring at his knees.

Flynn looked to the _Gunner's Revenge_. The sails were up and it started moving, pulling away from their ship. "All blame for the deaths today lie in Barbos' hands. There wasn't much anyone could have done against such a surprise attack. What do you plan to do now?"

Karol thought for a few seconds, and then pushed himself to his feet. "The top priority is getting the injured taken care of. I'm really glad Estelle is here to help with that."

"Do you plan to go after Barbos?"

Karol looked off the port side of the ship as Barbos' ship steadily grew farther away. He shook his head. "I don't think we should. I'm pretty sure they made off with most of our gald, but that can be replaced. It's not worth another fight with the Blood Alliance." He hesitantly glanced up at Flynn. "Er… do you think we should go after him?"

Flynn raised an eyebrow. "Why are you asking me? You're the captain. I'm not even part of your crew."

"Well… yeah… it's just…" Karol looked down and shuffled his feet. "You're a captain too, and you seem to really know what you're doing, unlike me…"

Flynn gave what he hoped was an encouraging smile. "You seem to be doing ok." It was still hard to think of someone so young as the captain, but Karol had shown remarkable maturity for his age and hadn't made any glaring mistakes. He was certainly a better captain at fourteen than Flynn felt he would have been. "You can ask my advice whenever you feel you need it, although I wouldn't tell Yuri you're doing so."

"Ha, yeah," Karol said. He smile turned to shock. "Yuri! He was fighting earlier - I hope he's ok!"

"I was about to look for him on the quarterdeck."

"Yeah. Let's go!" Karol ran for the quarterdeck, with Flynn hurrying after him.

Up the steps, the scene on the quarterdeck was even worse than the one on the main deck. The fighting up here had more decidedly gone in the pirates' favour, with most of their crew either retreating to the main deck or getting killed. Almost a dozen bodies littered the deck. Some of them were likely still alive, but Flynn couldn't tell without a closer examination.

"I don't see him," Karol said, looking around frantically.

Not seeing him was almost a comfort, because at least that meant he wasn't among the dead. Flynn hadn't seen him on the main deck, either. He slowly walked toward the stern, stepping carefully so as not to slip in the blood that slicked the deck. If Yuri wasn't up here, there was a chance one of the others had already dragged him down to Estelle. He hoped that was the case, because the other option was that he'd gone over the side and drowned.

Water spouted into the air, and Karol ran to the rail. "That's Ba'ul!"

Flynn followed him and leaned over the side, seeing the large whale sitting in the water at the back of the ship. Passed out on his back was Yuri. Flynn's grip tightened on the railing and Karol shouted, "Yuri!"

Flynn looked closer, and let out a sigh of relief when he saw Yuri's back rise slightly as he took a breath. "He's alive," Flynn said.

"Oh, thank goodness," Karol said. "I'll get Judith to help bring him back up. He'd better be ok, because I need to smack him for being so reckless!"

* * *

Estelle felt like she'd spent the entire afternoon sewing people back together. She sat in the corner of the sickbay with her knees pulled up to her chest, glad that it was finally over. Everyone who had been injured in the battle had been treated… or died. There were more survivors than there were deaths, though, which was a small fortune she clung to. Even after the battle ended, she'd spent a few hours running around treating the remaining wounded. She'd never felt more tired.

The door to the sickbay opened and Flynn walked in. She realized with a jolt that she still hadn't fixed his arm. She'd noticed he was bleeding earlier, but since there were so many others with more dire wounds, he insisted she treat them first. He'd wrapped a strip of cloth tightly around his arm to staunch the blood flow and then gone off to take care of other matters, such as checking on Ioder.

"Lady Estellise?" he said, looking around the apparently empty room.

"I'm here," she said, standing up. "I'm sorry. I forgot about your arm. Sit down and I'll stitch that up."

"Thank you," he said. "I actually came here about something else, though."

"Tell me about it while I treat you." She sat down at the operating table and he sat around the corner from her, holding out his left arm. Estelle pulled the sleeve up to his elbow and unwound the bloodstained cloth. She pulled a wet cloth out of a bucket by her feet and gently cleaned the area around the wound.

"We have a-" he cut off with a wince when she got too close to the wound site.

"Sorry."

"It's alright. We have a problem. Master Ioder is missing."

She paused and lifted her eyes from the wound to see his face. "Missing?"

"I went to check on his cabin, but he's not there. The door was unlocked and there is no sign of forced entry."

Estelle returned to her task. "Is he somewhere else on the ship?"

"I don't know," Flynn said. "Karol has those who can spare the time searching the hold for him. It's possible he got frightened during the battle and thought he would be safer hiding in some crevice down in the hold. So far there's no sign of him, though."

Estelle frowned as she finished cleaning the wound and put the cloth away. She hurried to prepare the needle and administer the stitches before the blood oozing slowly from the gash covered the area again. She threaded the needle and held it over his arm. She glanced up and asked, "Have you ever gotten stitches before?"

"Yes." He frowned. "It wasn't pleasant."

She smiled sadly. "Sorry. It tends not to be."

"Do what you have to do."

Flynn bit his lip as the needle pierced his arm, and Estelle worked as quickly as she could without messing up to get it over with.

"How is Yuri?" Flynn asked, looking away to concentrate on a spot on the wall.

"I think he's going to be ok," Estelle said, carefully tying off a suture. "I still don't know what he was doing in the water, but it sure is lucky Ba'ul was there to pick him up."

"Lucky," Flynn said. "That's a new one for Yuri."

"When you knew him as a child," Estelle said, "was he always this reckless? He's going to get himself killed."

Flynn sighed. "Yes, I'm afraid that's just how Yuri has always been. He can't stand sitting still."

"Well, he's going to have to." She was about halfway through the cut now. "His running around and whatever else he was up to gave him some internal bleeding."

"Is it bad?" Flynn asked, pulling away from the wall long enough to look at her.

"It could have been a lot worse," Estelle said. "Like I said, he was really lucky. Judith moved him back to the captain's room he's been using. I checked on him about ten minutes ago and I'm pretty sure the bleeding stopped on its own. Judith is sitting with him for now to make sure nothing happens."

"Let me guess," Flynn said, "this is going to set his healing back considerably, and now you're going to need to stay longer?"

"Um… it shouldn't actually be that much worse," Estelle said. "There's really nothing I can do about internal bleeding anyway. The only thing to do is surgery, and I don't have the supplies… or skill… to do that here. The surgery would probably kill him faster than the bleeding."

"But you said it stopped on its own?"

"I think so. It's hard to tell, but he was looking much better the last time I checked on him. More pink in his cheeks. He definitely needs to stay in bed and not move around much for a few days to make sure he doesn't start bleeding again. Karol said we should handcuff him to the bed."

Flynn snorted. "That might work."

Estelle finished tying the last suture. "Done." Flynn breathed a sigh of relief and she quickly bandaged the wound. Once it was wrapped, she pulled his arm to her face and gently kissed it. "There," she said with a smile. "All better."

He laughed. "I'm sure that will help, Lady Estellise."

She pouted as he pulled the sleeve of his shirt back down. "I keep telling you to call me 'Estelle'."

"I've noticed," Flynn said. "And I keep telling you that I will continue to call you 'Estellise'."

She smiled at him, and then they sat quietly for a long minute.

"Lady Estellise?" Flynn finally asked. "You seem troubled."

She sighed heavily. "It has been a very long day, Flynn. I keep thinking of all the people who died… and wondering if I could have done anything differently."

Flynn stared at her for a few seconds and then scooted his chair closer and wrapped his arm around her shoulders. She rested her forehead on his shoulder and he said, "I have every confidence that you worked to the best of your abilities today. In any battle there will be casualties. Even the best doctor in the world can't prevent that. But, there would have been many more today without you here. Don't ever forget that."

She smiled and nodded softly against his shoulder. "Thank you, Flynn."


	9. Picking up the Pieces

Sorry this took so long to update. Work has kept me busy and my time to write has greatly diminished. Please bear with me until the end of the summer. Ironically, I'll have more free time once summer vacation is over.

* * *

**Chapter Nine: Picking up the Pieces **

Yuri was getting pretty tired of waking up in pain. The last thing he remembered was slumping on the railing, and then there had been something with pirates… his memory was fuzzy. Something with Ioder… he could almost put his finger on it…

"You're awake."

And there it went. Dammit, Flynn. Yuri looked over at him with irritation. Yuri was back in the captain's cabin, lying in bed again. Oh how he was sick of this. Flynn sat in a chair by the bed, where he'd apparently been sitting quietly and waiting for Yuri to wake up. "How observant of you. What's going on? Is the battle still going on?" He took a few deep breaths, thinking that this was more effort than he usually put into breathing.

"No," Flynn said, shaking his head. "It's now evening. Barbos left about five or six hours ago."

"He… left?" Yuri asked in confusion.

"Yes," Flynn said. "What happened to you? We found you drifting on Ba'ul's back off the stern of the ship."

"Uh…" Ending up on Ba'ul's back did seem somewhat familiar. He'd been in the water, and then… dammit, everything was fuzzy. He'd been so close to passing out that concrete memories had had difficulty lodging in his brain. He shook his head and said, "I don't really remember, sorry. My memory is kind of hazy. I think… I remember getting pushed into the water. Did we win?"

Flynn frowned. "Not exactly. They retreated about half an hour into the battle for no apparent reason."

That sparked a memory. Barbos ordered a retreat… that's right, he'd been in the lifeboat. He remembered someone kneeing him in the gut, which was probably why his wound was acting up again. He couldn't remember yet why he'd been in that lifeboat.

"We have encountered a problem. No one has seen Master Ioder since the battle. There's no sign of forced entry on his door, but there are only so many hiding places on this ship."

"Ioder!" That's right, Barbos had taken Ioder! He needed to tell Karol. He started swinging his legs around to get up from bed, but then stopped when something tugged at his ankle. He frowned, pulled again, and found resistance. He pushed the blanket back and saw a metal handcuff around his ankle connected to the bed post.

He slowly turned to Flynn and glared. "Flynn. What the hell is this?"

"It was Karol's idea," Flynn said. "I told them you wouldn't like it."

"Damn right I don't like it. Give me the key."

"I don't have the key," Flynn said. "And I wouldn't take it off if I did. It's for your own good."

"Imprisoning me is for my own good?"

Flynn crossed his arms and met Yuri's glare with one of his own. "I don't know what you expected to happen when you went running off into battle in your condition. Lady Estellise says you were bleeding internally. Do you have any idea how lucky you are to be alive? If the bleeding hadn't stopped on its own, you would have _died_."

"I told you to stop telling me what to do!" He pushed himself upright, ignoring how this movement sent stabs of pain shooting through his gut. He carefully masked any expression of pain, because he didn't want Flynn to think he was justified in keeping Yuri in bed. He folded one leg in front of him and the other awkwardly stretched to the side.

"Dammit, Yuri, this has nothing to do with rank or giving orders. If Karol and Estellise were here they would say the same thing. How am I supposed to get it through your head that _you almost died_?"

Yuri crossed his arms and stubbornly stuck out his jaw, ignoring how pale those arms were. Just how much blood had he lost? "I had things to do. I couldn't just sit there."

"I can't believe you. You nearly got yourself killed because you just can't stand not showing off in a fight."

"It's your stupid prince I was trying to rescue!" Didn't it just figure that the first time he managed to sit down with Flynn and have a conversation since that first night, they ended up arguing again. He'd wanted to patch things up with Flynn if possible, but it was hard to do when Flynn insisted on avoiding him.

Flynn had an angry retort on the tip of his tongue, but pulled to a stop when he realized what Yuri had said. "My prince? Ioder? You know what happened to Master Ioder?"

"Yes. That's what I was trying to say before I got distracted by the fact that you're imprisoning me."

"What happened? And lie down, you're supposed to be resting."

"I can rest while sitting up." He'd spent more time on his back in the past couple of weeks than he ever wanted to again.

Flynn looked like he was going to argue, but then opted not to. Yuri appreciated this small gesture. "What happened?" Flynn asked again.

"There was a boat," Yuri said, staring into space and piecing his memories together as he spoke. "Barbos was in it. They infiltrated the ship through the windows of the great cabin. They took Ioder and I went after them. Then…" he frowned. "Ugh. The fight didn't go my way."

"I wonder why," Flynn said dryly.

Yuri gave him an irritated glance and then went back to thinking. "The lifeboat went back to their ship. Barbos said something and I remember thinking I needed to tell Karol, but…" He rested his elbow on his thigh and pressed his forehead into his hand. He'd barely been aware of what was happening around him at the time, and recalling details after the fact was like trying to read a sign through heavy fog.

"Don't push yourself," Flynn said. "The important thing to take away is that Barbos has kidnapped Master Ioder. Damn…" He rubbed his chin with a deep frown. "I'll have to organize a rescue mission once we get to Heliord…"

"What, don't trust us?"

Flynn lowered he hand. "Pardon?"

"We're going after Ioder ourselves. You don't need to launch a separate rescue mission." He hadn't discussed this with Karol yet, but he was certain he'd agree. Ioder had paid them in return for safe passage to Heliord. As far as Yuri was concerned, it was their responsibility to get him safely to Heliord, even if it included an unexpected detour chasing down Barbos.

Flynn stared at him, until Yuri frowned and said, "What? Something on my face?"

"Why are you going after Master Ioder?" Flynn asked. "Why did you risk your life jumping after him in the first place?"

"Uh… well, why wouldn't I?" He wasn't sure how to answer that question, because the answer seemed obvious. Why had he tried to rescue Ioder? Well, he was in trouble. Wasn't that reason enough?

"You're a pirate. Why would you go out of your way and nearly get yourself killed trying to rescue an imperial prince? You already received your payment from him."

"Why do I need a reason to save someone's life? What, would you have left him?"

"Of course not," Flynn said. "But I'm… well…"

Yuri's confused expression turned annoyed. "What? A better person?"

"A naval officer. Protecting the prince is my duty."

"Yeah, sure." That had definitely been what Flynn had initially planned to say, just like the navy was definitely only staffed by humanitarians and Rita was definitely not interested in women. "Thanks for that, Flynn." It wasn't that he was taking the moral high ground here. Yuri had no illusions that he was some paragon of virtue, and he knew the world wouldn't miss him if he was gone, but he didn't think Flynn, the navy's shining lap dog, was that much better.

Flynn looked down at his knees, clearly embarrassed at what he'd come close to saying. "Thank you for going after him, Yuri. I admit that I didn't expect that kind of act from you anymore."

"I didn't do it for you. And what do you mean, 'anymore'?"

"I would have expected stupidity like this from you when we were kids." He raised his eyes and a hint of a smile crossed his face. "I suppose I'm pleased to see that this aspect of your personality is still there."

"Hmph. Whatever. Go get Karol, would you? I need to tell him about Ioder and where we're headed."

Flynn glanced at the door. "Uh… actually, I'm not supposed to leave you alone."

Yuri frowned. "What, I need an ankle cuff _and_ a guard? Come on, guys, my intestines are bleeding, it's not like I'm going to chew my way through the chain."

"No, I'm not guarding you, I'm… watching you. Just in case… well…"

Yuri raised his eyebrows. "In case what?"

"The poetic way to phrase it is that I'm assisting Lady Estellise in her nursing duties by observing the patient for any difficulties."

"And… the non-poetic way?"

"Estellise told me to sit here and watch you while you were unconscious to make sure you didn't throw up and choke to death on your own vomit."

In the long pause that followed, Yuri vividly imagined that scenario and then everyone he knew forever remembering him as the man killed by vomit. "…I like the poetic way more."

"Me too."

"Well, I'm awake now, so you don't have to watch me."

"Lady Estellise told me to stay with you until she came back and gave you the all-clear."

"Now _I'm_ telling you to go get Karol."

Flynn nervously looked at the door. "She'll be mad if I don't follow my instructions."

Yuri groaned in frustration. "Why are you always such a square?! Estelle doesn't give the orders on this ship."

"Yes, but I'm more frightened of her wrath than yours. She's not chained to a bed."

Yuri glared at him for a few seconds, and then collapsed back in bed in defeat. "Great."

"Sorry."

"No, you're not."

Flynn just smirked.

Yuri scowled. "Jerk."

* * *

"Estelle…"

The croaky voice snapped Estelle out of the half-nap she'd been having on the table in the sickbay. She raised her head and saw Rita looking at her. Estelle smiled tiredly and said, "Good evening, Rita. Good to see you're awake."

She lay on her back on a wooden bunk with only a thin pillow and a threadbare sheet. Rita looked down at the sheet, grabbed the edge with her right hand and lifted it a few inches with a frown. "Estelle… where is my shirt?"

Estelle started to speak, but was interrupted by a yawn. "It's on the g-g-grou- ahhh, excuse me. It's on the ground in a big pile of discarded clothing." Whenever shirts or pants had gotten in the way of an injury, she'd cut it off and tossed it aside. The torn and bloodstained clothes now sat in a big pile in the corner of the room. Rita had been one of the first patients brought in, so her shirt was probably near the bottom.

Pink crept onto her cheeks. "Did… did you undress me?"

"Um, I took your shirt off," Estelle said. "I had to. Your shoulder was bleeding pretty badly." A thick splinter hadripped open the area between her neck and shoulder, but all things considered, it could have been a lot worse. Only a few inches to the left and it would have skewered her throat. Estelle had stitched the wound closed and then wrapped it in bandages, which circled Rita's torso to stay in place.

The pink deepened. "Oh…"

"It's ok!" Estelle said quickly. "We're both girls."

"Um… yeah. Just – just get me a shirt, ok?"

"You can go back to your room and get one," Estelle said. "Other than the cut on your shoulder, you're fine. You don't need to stay in here."

"Oh, good," Rita said, swinging her legs around the bunk. She stood with her blanket wrapped around her shoulders like a cloak, her face in a perpetual scowl at the fact that she was topless underneath it. As they left the sickbay, Rita looked around at the crew members recuperating on the floor outside and said, "How did the rest of the battle go?"

Estelle frowned. "It was… ok. The Blood Alliance kidnapped Ioder and they retreated as soon as they got him."

"What? They took the prince? What for?"

"I don't know," Estelle said, stepping carefully around her sleeping patients. "I assume for ransom."

"Great," Rita grumbled. "Like we don't have enough problems."

Rita opened the door to her cabin and Estelle followed her in. One level above, the gun deck was a chaotic mess after being blown apart by a broadside, but Rita's room gave it a run for the title of most untidy space on the ship. Rita grabbed a shirt off the ground and sat down on the side of her bunk. "Why are you just standing there?" Rita asked. "Go on, I need to get dressed."

Estelle glanced hesitantly at the door and said, "Yes, um, but you might have trouble putting that shirt on without moving your left arm…"

"I can move my arm just fine. See?" She raised her arm, and then winced and dropped it.

"Be careful!" Estelle said, hurrying forward. "You need to be gentle with that arm. You damaged the muscle that moves it."

Rita scowled. "Don't treat me like Yuri."

"Well, don't act like him! Let me help you get your arm through the sleeve."

Rita crossed her arms and scowled. "Fine," she grumbled, letting Estelle push the blanket off her shoulders.

Her face reddened as Estelle carefully lifted her arm and slid it through the sleeve of her shirt. Estelle smiled slightly, although Rita was too busy glaring at the ground to notice. Estelle couldn't stop herself from thinking that Rita was kind of cute. With the shirt on, Estelle stepped back and said, "There, see? That wasn't so hard."

Rita mumbled something, and Estelle asked, "What was that?"

Rita waited a few seconds, took a deep breath, and spoke louder. "Thanks."

Estelle beamed. "You don't have to thank me. I'm happy to help!"

Rita experimentally lifted her arm, carefully testing her limits. "You did a good job on this. You're, um… you're really good at this."

"Not that good," Estelle said quickly. "I – Dr. Dropwart says I still have a lot to learn." She looked down a shuffled her feet. "I'm hardly a professional doctor."

"Don't say that," Rita said. "You saved Yuri's life and all the others who were injured in the battle! If the stupid empire actually let you take the test, I bet you'd pass with the best score ever!"

Estelle stared at her with wide eyes. "Do you really think so?"

"Of course!"

Estelle's heart swelled and she couldn't keep a smile off her face. "Well – well you're really amazing too, Rita. I could never keep track of all that machinery and gunpowder and everything."

"Oh, that's… that's nothing. How long until this heals?"

"Probably a couple of weeks," Estelle said. "It's not a serious injury. Just don't swing your arm around a lot or you'll pull the stitches. You were very lucky, Rita. A lot of the others on the gun deck… didn't make it."

Rita was quite for a second, her face stoic and unreadable. "Oh. Figures," she said. "If those idiots hadn't dragged their feet we could have gotten a broadside in first and none of this would have happened. How are my cannons?"

"Your… cannons?" Estelle stared at her. "Rita, how can you think about cannons at a time like this?!"

Rita stomped to the door. "Well, the crew is all either fine, dead, or taken care of by you. There's nothing I can do about them, so how are my cannons? I can fix those."

"Rita…" Estelle said sympathetically.

"Fine, I'll go check them myself," she snapped.

Estelle followed, and then followed her out the room. They walked up the steps to the gun deck, and Rita surveyed her damaged cannons in horror. She was about to run to them when they heard raised voices coming from the captain's cabin. Somehow, this didn't surprise Estelle at all.

She slumped her shoulders. "I'd better go check on Yuri." Rita cast one last grieving look at the cannons and then followed her. Estelle knocked and then opened the door without waiting for an answer.

"-pushed me!" Yuri finished shouting. He lay in bed, propping himself up on one elbow, while Flynn sat carefully out of reach with his arms crossed.

"I did not!" Flynn said firmly. "Why would I push you? What possible gain could I get from pushing you out of a tree?"

"I don't know, maybe you enjoy my suffering."

"You're ridiculous, Yuri." Flynn shook his head. "And you're making a much bigger deal out of this than it was."

"I twisted my ankle."

"Oh, you poor baby. Maybe if you-"

Estelle cleared her throat. Flynn finally noticed that they had entered and shot his head around. He jumped to his feet and said, "Uh - Lady Estellise! Good to see you. I was just-"

"Denying that he tried to sabotage my street ball career when we were seven," Yuri interrupted.

Flynn whirled around. "Would you stop that, Yuri?! For the last time, I didn't push you out of the tree. _You_ lost your balance."

"Yeah, after you shoved me!"

"Would both of you shut up?" Rita said. "You're acting like idiots."

Flynn hung his head. "Forgive me, Lady Estellise. Is there something I can do for you?"

"No, I just came to check on Yuri." She crossed the room and sat on the edge of the bed next to him. "How are you feeling, Yuri? Flynn, did he have any problems while he was out?"

"No," Flynn said, shaking his head and sitting down again. "Slept like a baby."

Yuri sneered at him, but before he could respond, Karol, Judith, and Repede entered the room.

"Yuri!" Karol said. "You're alright!"

Yuri smiled. "Hey, Captain. Yeah, I'm fine, sorry for worrying-"

"Argh!" Karol shouted in frustration, storming across the room. "I am so mad at you, Yuri!"

Yuri balked and leaned back, but not before Karol reached the side of the bed and smacked him across the face.

"Karol!" Estelle gasped. "You can't-"

"Why are you so stupid, Yuri?!" Karol shouted. "You could have died!"

Yuri leaned as far away from Karol as he could while Repede growled at him. His eyes were wide and he looked more frightened than Estelle had ever seen him.

"Don't ever do that again!" Karol said.

"Karol," Estelle said, "maybe you should stop shouting and let Yuri rest…"

Karol looked to her with a deep frown. "Yeah, alright, but… but Yuri needs to stay here and rest and not run around getting himself hurt again." He turned back to Yuri and jabbed his finger at him. "Got it?"

"Uh… right," Yuri said. "I guess there's no point hoping you'll unlock this cuff and let me move my leg freely?"

Karol's glare said it all.

"Really, though, I feel fine now," Yuri said.

"I'm glad you feel better, Yuri," Judith said. "But if you run around against the doctor's orders again, I will have to hit you."

"Alright, I get it," Yuri grumbled.

"What we need to figure out," Flynn said, "is where we're going next. Yuri tells me your crew would be willing to pursue Barbos and rescue Ioder." He looked to Karol and said, "Is this true?"

Karol nodded. "Yeah. Ioder paid us for the trip, and that makes him our responsibility. But… I have no idea where he might have gone."

"Hm…" Judith said with a frown. "Did anyone pay attention to which direction he sailed away in when he retreated?"

They all looked around at each other. Rita shrugged one shoulder. "Don't look at me, I was unconscious."

"So was I," Yuri said.

"I was below deck," Estelle said. "Sorry."

Flynn shook his head. "We were all busy taking care of the injured. No one thought to pay attention to Barbos once he had retreated."

"How are we going to track him?" Estelle asked, looking between Flynn and Yuri.

After a long pause, Karol said, "Dahngrest! We should go to Dahngrest."

"Why Dahngrest?" Flynn asked. "Do you think he's gone there? I'm not sure if that's the safest place to go…" He glanced worriedly at Estelle.

"I don't know if Barbos is in Dahngrest," Karol said. "But if anyone knows how to find him, it's Don Whitehorse. Altosk is the biggest fleet in the world next to the Imperial Navy. He _has_ to know which way Barbos has gone."

"Alright," Flynn said. "If we're going to Dahngrest, can I request we stop in Heliord on the way so that Lady Estellise can disembark?"

Estelle looked to Flynn in surprise, and Karol nodded. "Yeah, of course."

"Good," Flynn said. "Taking her into this kind of danger is, of course, out of the question."

"Um, actually," Estelle said, glancing nervously around the group, "I… if it's ok… I'd like to go with you."

Flynn looked to her with concern. "Absolutely not. I cannot in good conscience knowingly take you into danger. Please don't worry, Lady Estellise. I'll bring Master Ioder back, but you would be much safer in Heliord."

"I know," Estelle said. "But I want to go after Ioder, too. If you're going into danger, that's even more of a reason to take me! Who's going to take care of you if you get hurt?"

"I'm sure we'll manage," Flynn said.

"Hey," Yuri said, "if Estelle wants to come with us, let her come."

Estelle looked to Yuri with an appreciative smile.

"Estellise, I don't think you understand the seriousness of this situation," Flynn said. "I would have thought your experiences today would have taught you that Barbos is not to be trifled with."

"I know," Estelle said. "It taught me that if you're going to fight him, you need a doctor on hand so you don't get killed. Karol, it's ok if I go with you, right?

"Of course!" Karol said. "You can stay with us as long as you want."

"Looks like that's settled," Yuri said. "We have no reason to stop in Heliord, then."

"We still have one reason," Judith said. "What about Ragou?"

"Oh, yeah," Karol said. "I forgot about him."

"We don't have time to stop just to drop him off," Rita said.

Judith nodded. "It's out of our way. Not a lot, but with the masts broken, we're relying on Ba'ul to tow us. I don't want him to have to go out of his way for Ragou. He'd do it for you, Estelle, but Ragou is a different story."

"He's not going to be happy about this," Karol said.

Judith shrugged. "When he gets to Dahngrest, he can send a message to Capua Nor to let them know why he's running late."

"Wait," Yuri said, staring at the wall with his brow furled. "That reminded me… there was something… Oh!" He bolted up again, clutched his stomach with a grimace, and fell back with a groan. "Ugh… I mean… right."

"Be careful," Estelle admonished.

"What I'm trying to say," Yuri said, "is that I think Ragou is in cahoots with Barbos."

His assertion was met with surprised stares. Flynn was the first to speak. "That is a serious accusation. What evidence do you have?"

"The parrot," Yuri said. "Barbos had a parrot and I am certain it was the same goddess damned parrot that Ragou accused me of killing. I bet he sent a message off to Barbos telling him our position and then pretended he was shocked to find it gone to cover himself."

"Hm…" Judith said. "I suppose that's possible, but it seems like a big leap based on a parrot."

"How are you so sure it was the same parrot?" Flynn asked. "Lots of sailors keep parrots as pets, and you already told me your memory of the event is hazy."

"It was the same damn parrot," Yuri insisted.

"Did it try to attack you?" Estelle asked.

"Well… no, but I'm sure it was the same bird. How else do you explain Barbos knowing to come after us to sneak in and get Ioder?"

"That would also explain why his room shows no sign of being broken into," Judith said. "If Ragou called to him, he would think it was safe to open the door."

Flynn frowned. "Well, it is certainly suspicious… but there's no hard evidence. We have no way to be sure that it's the same bird, and all the other evidence is circumstantial."

"It was Zagi," Yuri said. "Do you guys think I'm lying?"

The others exchanged uncomfortable looks. Flynn said, "I believe that you believe you're right."

Yuri groaned in frustration. "I know what I saw, ok?!"

"Yuri," Estelle said gently, "at the time you had lost a lot of blood and were probably really close to passing out. Your mind wasn't in its proper state and I wouldn't be surprised if it made up things you wanted to see."

Yuri crossed his arms with a scowl. "Like I ever wanted to see that damn parrot again."

"We'll keep an eye on Ragou," Karol said. "But for now we won't confront him or anything. We don't have any proof."

"I'll tell Ba'ul to make for Dahngrest," Judith said. "We should get there in about a week."

"Very well," Flynn said, standing up. "Lady Estellise, would you mind following me? I'd like to speak to you privately."

Knowing full well what he wanted to talk about, Estelle nodded and stood to follow him. On her way to the door, she looked back at Yuri and said, "You stay put! Don't go squirming around or anything. You've stopped bleeding for now but you'll start again if you don't lie still for a few days."

Yuri rolled his eyes. "Yes, ma'am."

Out on the gun deck, Flynn took Estelle to the side and stood next to the wall as he asked, "Are you completely certain you want to do this?"

"Yes, Flynn. I'm sure."

"No one will think ill of you if you don't. Barging into a battle with pirates is no place for a princess."

A flash of anger momentarily blinded her. She was so _tired_ of being told what her 'place' was, because that place was inevitably in the castle, under guard, never seeing anything of the world. If she went back to Heliord now, she might never leave imperial custody again. She wasn't ready for this adventure in the real world to be over yet, even if it was heading to a scary conclusion.

Flynn saw that anger and immediately apologized. "I'm sorry. I should have phrased that better."

"It's ok. I just… I want to help. I want to be part of the world rather than simply reading about it in books. Can't you understand that?"

"Of course I understand that," Flynn said. "I don't mean to parrot the Council in telling you that a princess needs to be protected. In fact, you being a princess is only part of the reason I'm so concerned for your safety."

She tilted her head to the side. "What's the other reason?"

He smiled slightly. "Well… because you're my best friend and I couldn't bear to see you get hurt."

Estelle couldn't help smiling. "Oh, Flynn, I couldn't bear to see you hurt, either." She reached up and wrapped her arms around his shoulders. "That's why I have to go with you, or else I'll spend the whole time worrying about you and what might happen to you if I'm not there to heal you." She squeezed him tightly, resting her head on his shoulder.

Flynn returned with a loose hug and said, "If you're going to be following us into danger, I think you ought to learn how to defend yourself."

Estelle pulled back and looked at him in shock. "You mean…?"

"I'd like to give you sword lessons starting tomorrow, if that's alright with you."

"Oh, yes!" she said with a smile. She'd always loved dashing sword fights in novels, but the Council had been horrified that she trained herself to be a doctor and she could only imagine how much they would freak out if the princess learned to fight.

"In the time we have, I very much doubt you'll become an expert, but hopefully I can teach you how to defend yourself."

"Thank you, Flynn!"

"Anything to help you. Why don't we get some sleep now? I haven't had a proper rest since Barbos showed up, and I know you've only managed to snatch naps at the table."

At that reminder, her weariness caught up with her and her eyelids filled with lead. "Yes, I think that's a good idea."

They walked to the stairs, and as they passed Yuri's room, Flynn looked to it with a frown. "Lady Estellise… can you keep a secret?"

"Of course."

"That time Yuri and I were arguing about… we were seven and we climbed a tree, initially to escape some bullies and then we sat up there for a little while. But, um…" he smiled sheepishly at her. "There was a bee. I panicked and accidentally shoved Yuri. So he was right, I _did_ push him, albeit accidentally. Please don't tell him."

Estelle laughed. "Don't worry, Flynn, your secret is safe with me."

* * *

Judy and Rita left soon after Estelle and Flynn. Karol and Repede stayed behind, and Karol glared down at Yuri for almost a minute before Yuri spoke.

"Do you need something, Captain?"

Karol sighed and slumped down onto the bed. "No. I just… I was really worried about you, Yuri."

"I know," Yuri said. "I didn't mean to worry you."

"Why do you always have to be so reckless, Yuri?" Karol said.

Yuri watched Karol with a frown. He wished he could explain, but he didn't feel comfortable putting it into words. The only thing Yuri was good at was fighting. As long as he could do that, he could contribute and help his friends. If he was out of commission, he didn't have anything else to offer. He was just a useless waste of space taking up room lounging in bed. If he told Karol this, though, Karol would inevitably ramble something about how that wasn't true and Yuri didn't want to deal with that kind of unconvincing pep talk.

Instead of explaining this, he laughed it off and said, "Aw, come on, you know me. I've got way too much energy to sit still."

"I know," Karol said, frowning. "That's what I'm worried about. You're never going to heal if you don't rest."

"You haven't given me a choice about resting now," Yuri said, gesturing at his ankle.

"Eh-heh," Karol said sheepishly. "Sorry. It's for you own good, you know."

"Yeah, sure," Yuri said. He couldn't even sit up in bed, because he didn't have enough slack to pull his legs up.

"For someone as accident prone as you, you'd think you would be more careful."

"Who are you calling accident prone?!" Yuri crossed his arms and gave Karol a pouty scowl.

"Trouble swarms to you like sharks on a shipwreck, Yuri," Karol said. "Weren't you just talking earlier about falling out of a tree and twisting your ankle?"

"That was no accident," Yuri said. "Flynn pushed me."

"I think we'd all believe you more if you didn't have a history of getting yourself hurt doing something stupid."

"He pushed me, and I'll figure out how to prove it someday. Besides," he shifted around, trying to find a more comfortable position where he couldn't feel the cuff on his ankle, "Flynn's not that much better. I saw he busted his arms pretty bad in the fight. Guess he wasn't being too careful, either."

"Actually…" Karol looked down at his hands, "that my fault. A pirate was coming after me, and Flynn threw himself between us and blocked the blow with his arm. He saved my life."

Yuri stared at Karol. "He… he did that?" He wasn't… _surprised_, exactly. Flynn had always had that noble streak. He was impressed, though, that Flynn had let the noble streak come through in defence of someone he considered a pirate. Maybe it would be different if Karol wasn't so young, but Yuri had gotten the impression that Flynn was utterly disgusted by anyone who chose this profession. Hearing that Flynn had gone out of his way and risked great personal injury to save the life of someone he considered a pirate made Yuri think that maybe Flynn wasn't as much of a prude as he had assumed.

"Yeah," Karol said. "I messed up and if he hadn't taken that sword to his arm, I… I probably wouldn't be here."

"I guess I owe Flynn some thanks," Yuri said. "I'm glad you're alright, Karol."

Karol tried to grin, but couldn't quite make it. "I'm glad you're alright, too, Yuri." He fell over sideways and then rolled against Yuri's side. "I was really scared that I would lose you, too."

"Hey, I'm not going anywhere," Yuri said, prying his arm out from under Karol so he could wrap it around his shoulders. The 'too' had confused him for a second, until he realized Karol was probably talking about his parents. Karol didn't mention them much, and since they'd died when he was so young he didn't have very many memories of them. For most of his life, Yuri was the only family he had. Yuri felt terrible for worrying Karol like that.

"But I also keep thinking…" Karol said, "there are a lot of people that aren't alright. We lost a lot of good crew members today. I think… I think I want to hold a memorial of some kind. I feel like we should do something, since we can't give them a proper funeral at sea. What do you think?"

"I think that's a great idea," Yuri said. "I bet everyone would appreciate it."

"You think?" Karol said, smiling a bit more.

"Don't ask me; you're the captain."

"Right," Karol said with a touch of uncertainty.

"I just wish I could be there. You should untie me and let me get up to go to your memorial service."

Karol's uncertainty faded into annoyance. "Not going to happen, Yuri."


	10. Training

Look who's back! I admit that part of the delay on this chapter was my other fanfiction, Shattered, which I recently finished posting. I hadn't planned for it to get that long and I just had a burst of inspiration and wrote the entire thing in 3 weeks. I've got another Vesperia fanfiction that I'm working on now, but I'm trying to balance them so that this once can have regular updates again. Sorry for the delay!

* * *

**Chapter Ten: Training**

Swords clashed. Flynn and the sailor circled each other around the deck with careful steps. Their swords swished through the air and Estelle flinched every time Flynn's opponent's sword came close to his face.

Flynn didn't seem to be worried, however. He moved with a steady grace, his movements seemingly effortless. The rival sailor was taller and broader than him, and each movement of his cutlass came with more power. Estelle clutched her face nervously as she watched Flynn's arm shake with the exertion of parrying a blow.

Despite his opponent's greater strength, Flynn's refined skill made them equally matched. Estelle was no expert on swordplay, but even she could tell that unlike his opponent, Flynn had learned from dedicated instruction and perfected drills, whereas the other sailor had likely picked it up on his own from watching others and figuring out how not to get killed.

When Flynn had said he wanted to spar with someone to give Estelle an idea of what a sword fight should look like, Yuri had of course immediately volunteered. A sequence of angry glares from Estelle, Karol, Judith, Rita, Flynn, and even Repede had quickly squashed that notion. Karol and Judith had both volunteered, but neither of them fought with a sword, so sailor named John had stepped forward to volunteer.

Estelle had not anticipated how stressful watching Flynn spar would be. She knew it was only a mock fight, but they were using real swords and one of them might slip. She wanted to look away until it was over, but they were fighting for her benefit so she forced herself to watch and prayed there wasn't an accident.

Nobody else watching seemed as stressed as her. The crew gathered on the deck whooped and hollered every time it looked like John was getting the upper hand. Estelle sat on a barrel and cheered for Flynn, because it didn't seem fair that everyone else was rooting for the other guy.

"How much longer do you think this is going to last?" Rita asked. She crossed her arms and leaned against the railing next to Estelle.

Estelle shrugged and said, "I have no idea. Until one of them forced the other to surrender, I suppose."

Rita rolled her eyes. "Ugh, that might take ages."

"You don't like watching sword fights?" Estelle tore her eyes away from Flynn for only a second to glance at Rita.

"I don't find testosterone-pumped brutes swinging pointy metal around to be particularly fascination, no."

"Have you ever fought with a sword, Rita?"

"Me? Hell no. Give me a good pistol any day."

"Hm…" Estelle frowned as she watched Flynn drive John toward the ring of spectators. "Well, I think sword fighting is very interesting. It must take a lot of skill."

So fast that Estelle could barely see what happened, Flynn sidestepped a blow, knocked John's arm aside with his left arm, and brought the tip of his sword to the sailor's throat.

A startled silence gripped the crowd for a few seconds. Both Flynn and John stood frozen, moving only to take deep breaths with their eyes locked. An angry mutter took up in the crowd, which morphed in outright boos.

Flynn didn't seem to be bothered by the crew's displeasure, and lowered his sword. "Thank you for a good fight, John," Flynn said.

John scowled at him, obviously unhappy with losing. "Yeah, yeah."

Flynn turned to Estelle and took a few paces forward. "I hope you found that educational, Lady Estellise."

She nodded quickly. "Oh, yes, that was very interesting. Thank you, Flynn. Is your arm ok?" He'd avoided using his left arm as anything other than balance through the battle since he had injured it only yesterday, and she hoped he hadn't hurt himself smacked John's arm at the end.

"Yes, I'm quite fine," Flynn said. "Thank you for you con-"

"Flynn!" she gasped, pointing behind him.

Flynn whipped his head around, but only succeeded in smacking his face on the hilt of John's sword. He stumbled, his head spinning, until John shoved his chest and sent him crashing to the deck. He dropped his sword, which John kicked away. Flynn's eyes followed it in a panic, but when he looked back to John, he found a sword in his face.

"What are you doing?!" Estelle screamed, leaping up. Flynn propped himself up on his elbows, one hand clutching the side of his head, while staring up at John's smirk with fury.

John laughed and sheathed his sword. "Looks like I won this one after all."

"You cheated," Flynn said. "The battle was already over."

"I still had my sword, didn't I?"

"Are you ok?" Estelle said, kneeling next to Flynn.

"I'm fine," he said quickly while she helped him up.

Before further argument could break out, Judith spoke up. "It looks to me like Estelle just got her first lesson," she said, breaking through the ring of spectators and entering the fighting area. She looked to Flynn with a smile and said, "Never take your eyes off your opponent, even if you think you've won."

Flynn glared at John, but then shook his head. "Fine. I wish we could have taught this lesson without smacking me in the head, though."

John chuckled at him. "Poor delicate navy officer."

Estelle frowned. "Everyone, let's not fight."

"Estelle's right," Judith said. "We still have a lot of work to do to get the ship back together, so this break is over and let's finish cleaning up the rest of the debris."

With mumbled agreement, the crew dispersed. Judith walked away to help with the cleanup, while Karol excitedly walked up to Flynn and said, "Wow! You're really good at sword fighting."

"Thank you," Flynn said, smiling. "I still have a lot to learn, though."

"Less to learn than me, at least," Karol said.

"You still have many years ahead of you to practice," Flynn said. "Are you going to stay and watch Lady Estellise's lessons?"

Karol shook his head. "I might come back later, but for now I'm going to go talk to Yuri. I bet he's bored silly stuck in bed."

"I don't doubt it," Flynn said. "He was eager to help when I told him I'd be training Estellise."

"He's not allowed," Estelle said firmly. "Don't you dare uncuff him, Karol, because he needs to lie still to make sure he heals properly."

"I know," Karol said. "I'll make sure he stays in bed. Good luck with your lessons, Estelle. I'm sure you'll do great!"

"Thank you, Karol!" she said, beaming.

"I'll go down with you," Rita said. "I need to do a thorough inspection of all my cannons. Have fun, Estelle."

"I will!" She hadn't pointed out that Rita had started calling her 'Estelle', because she was afraid if she pointed it out Rita would get annoyed and go back to 'Estellise'. It made her happy, though.

With them gone, she and Flynn were left alone near the steps to the quarterdeck. "Are you ready?" Flynn asked.

She bobbed her head excitedly.

Flynn frowned and said, "Actually, you should tie your hair back first."

He hand went to her loose hair. "Oh, right, of course. Uh…" She looked down at her pocket-less skirt.

"Here," Flynn said, pulling a ribbon out of his pocket. "I figured you'd need it so I took the ribbon off my wig."

"Oh, thank you!" As she pulled her hair back and tied it with the ribbon, she said, "Won't you need it?"

"I'm not expecting to need formal dress for a while. Go ahead."

"There," she said, tightening it. "I'm all ready."

"Ok. You're going to train using my sabre." He pulled his out, but didn't immediately hand it over. Standing several feet away from her, he slashed it through the air a few times, demonstrating a few varieties of cuts. The speed of the slices made a _whoosh_, while the blade flashed with sunlight. "The most important thing to remember is that a sword is a weapon. It is not a toy, or a fancy prop to re-enact swashbuckling novels. Swords are dangerous, and you must always treat your blade with respect and care."

Estelle nodded, not taking her eyes off the blade. "Yes. I understand."

"A sabre is only sharp on one edge." He held it horizontally in one hand, and gestured to the convex edge with the other. "This side. It's safe to touch the other edge, and there are occasions when you will have to, but never forget which side is dangerous."

"Right," she said, nodding again. She was pretty sure she could remember which side was sharp. She was no expert in swordplay, but if the concave edge was the sharp one she was pretty sure that would make it a sickle, and more appropriate for cutting wheat than pirates.

"When you aren't using your sword, keep it sheathed. Don't just walk around with it out, and when it is out, keep the blade in sight so you don't accidentally hurt someone standing next to you or behind you."

"I know, Flynn," she said. She was eager to actually learn how to fight, and thought these safety lessons were a bit obvious.

"I'm sorry if this sounds like common sense, but when we were kids Yuri had a tendency to carry the sticks we fashioned into swords over his shoulder and he stabbed me in the face a few times."

Estelle giggled at the mental image, and Flynn frowned. "It's not funny," he said. "If it had been a real sword, I could have been seriously hurt."

"I'm sure Yuri wouldn't have done that with a real sword," she said.

Flynn shook his head in annoyance. "Who knows with Yuri? Anyway, you hold it like this." He held it up diagonally so the blade crossed his chest and face. "The hand guard protected your knuckles, and the sharp edge faces out. Hold on to it tightly so that it doesn't slip, but not so tight that you can't adjust the angle of your grip. Are you ready?"

"Yes."

"Alright. Hold out your hand."

Estelle reached out, trying to ignore the swarm of butterflies threatening to overtake her stomach. Flynn hesitated, watching her nervously and glancing uncertainly at the sword. He reached forward slowly, let out a breath, and placed the hilt in her hand.

Estelle curled her fingers around the hilt as Flynn watched her carefully, clearly afraid she'd accidentally stab herself any second now. The sabre felt foreign in her hands – an unfamiliar weight that made her stomach's butterflies swoon with newfound power. After so many years of training to use her hands to save lives, she was finally learning how to fight. The prospect was a little scary, and she didn't think she would ever be able to bring herself to actually kill someone, but the feeling that she would be able to defend herself, without relying on Flynn to swoop in and save her, was a comfortable independence she'd never experienced before.

"Ok…" she said, wiggling her fingers on the hilt.

"It will be a bit too heavy for you," Flynn said.

"No, it's fine," she said.

"It is now," he said, "but after holding it and swinging it around for fifteen minutes, your arm will get tired."

"I can do it," she insisted.

"I know you can," Flynn said, "but you need practice first. I'm not saying you're weak, simply inexperienced. You'll need to do a lot of training – both with a sword and physical training – to strengthen your muscles."

"Alright, I can do that. What first?" She twisted her hand, slowly waving her arm to get a feel for the sword.

Flynn's hand shot out and grabbed her wrist. "Be careful! Don't swing it around until I say it's ok."

"Oh… sorry." She frowned, determined not to alarm Flynn like that again. She didn't want him to decide teaching her had been a mistake. She had to show him she was cut out for this.

"Alright, we're going to start with basic stances. Your sword is in your hand, but fighting with any sort of competency involves the entire body. Now, copy me and stand like this."

Estelle eyed Flynn, and then carefully tried to get into the same pose, with her body twisted to the side, her feet about a metre apart, her sword arm sticking out in front and her left arm held back. "Like this?"

"Close," Flynn said. He broke out of his stance and reached for her. "Ah, excuse me, Lady Estellise…" he grabbed her shoulders and turned them slightly, and then rested a hand on the small of her back and pushed to straighten her back.

"It's ok, Flynn," Estelle said, understanding his hesitation to manhandle the princess. "Please, just treat me as if I was any other student."

"I can't, because you are _not_ any other student," he said. "Anyway, this is a basic guard stance. If you keep your body turned, you're presenting your opponent with a narrower target. Do you understand?"

She nodded. "Yes, I think so."

He got back into position, holding an invisible sword in front of him. "Alright, now take a step forward like this," he moved forward slightly, "and swing your arm like this." He slashed his arm in a diagonal movement. He looked around and added, "There's no one else around us right now, but please remember to always be aware of your surroundings when you're using a sword. You don't want to accidentally hit a friend." He stepped back to give her room and said, "Ok, try it."

Estelle took a deep breath, and then lunged forward with a slash. "Ha! Like that?" She looked to him eagerly.

"Not exactly. You overstepped and now you're off-balance. Look." He reached out and shoved her shoulder, sending her unstable lags wobbling.

"Oh. Whoops."

"It's ok; try again."

Estelle nodded, and repeated the action. That time she didn't step forward nearly enough, and the next time she tried she was so concerned with her feet that her sword slash was weak. She tried over and over, and sometimes she got the arm movement right, and sometimes she got her feet right, but getting them both right at the same time proved to be an insurmountable task.

She felt stupid. She'd been at it for nearly half an hour and she couldn't master this basic guard. On the one occasion when she _did_ get her feet and her arms to move properly at the same time, she messed up and turned her shoulders too much. She hated feeling like she was letting Flynn down and just knew she was annoying him, but he remained patient throughout her struggles. No matter how many times she did it wrong, he calmly pointed out her mistake and how to correct it.

She tried one more time, determinedly taking a step and swinging her arm. She tried to keep everything Flynn had said in mind, focusing every ounce of her attention on her muscles.

She was rewarded for her efforts by a gasp from Flynn. "That's it! That was perfect."

"Really?" She looked to him with a big grin.

"Yes, that's exactly what you need to do. Good job. Now do it again."

"Right!" she said with renewed confidence. She stepped back into the starting position and tried again, and then looked to Flynn expectantly.

"Well… it was better the previous time, but you're getting there," he said. "Just keep trying."

They kept it up for another half hour. As time wore on, Estelle progressively made fewer mistakes until the training had finally switched from teaching her how to do it to practising the same movement over and over to drill it in. By the end of the hour, Estelle finally understood what Flynn had meant by the sword being too heavy for her. Her arm ached and it took persistent effort to hold it level.

"I think that's enough for now," Flynn said. "We're going to move on to something else. May I have the sword, please?"

She nodded and passed it over, relieved to give her arm a break from holding it. She wanted to pull her arm against her chest and massage her sore muscles, but she didn't want Flynn to think she was too weak or tired to keep the lesson going.

"The next thing I'm going to show you is a way to quickly get back into a defensive position after making an attack." He stepped forward and slashed the air like she had been practicing, and then froze with his arm extended. "This is a highly vulnerable position, so you can't linger like this deciding what to do next. You can either press forward with a second attack, or pull back to guard against a counterattack."

She nodded to show she understood, and asked, "How do you know which to do?"

"A lot of factors," Flynn said, pulling his arm back and standing up straight. "What is your opponent doing next? Was he thrown off balance by your attack or did he recover faster than you? How much strength do you have to keep pushing forward? What is the terrain like – will it throw off your footing if you step forward?"

"That's… a lot to consider in a split second," she said, trying not to feel overwhelmed by the task she was trying to learn.

"It's a skill learned with practice," Flynn said. "For now, I want you to focus on guarding and defense. It is frankly infeasible for you to become a skilled swordsman… er, swordswoman in the time frame we have, and ideally you would never find yourself on the front lines of battle."

"Right," Estelle said, nodding slowly. She was learning to fight so that she could defend herself if she had to, not so that she could charge into the fray alongside Flynn and the others. When fighting happened, her primary task was to take care of the wounded and prevent as many deaths as she could.

"You need to learn to guard and protect yourself until I, or anyone else, can come to your aid. When you block your opponent's blade with your own, that's called a parry. You do it like this." He pulled the blade up sharply across his body. "Note that you still need to pay attention to your feet. Don't let yourself get thrown off balance in your haste to parry. Here, try it."

He handed the sword back, and Estelle carefully copied his action. "Is this ok?" she asked.

"Your arm should be a bit higher."

She raised it.

"Ah, no, now it's too high... Excuse me." He grabbed her wrist and gently pulled her arm into the right position, and then shifted her shoulders to the side. "That's what you're trying to get. Go back to your previous stance and try getting back into this position."

"Ok." She did as she was told, but ended up spending a few seconds adjusting herself after her initial movement.

"Keep trying," Flynn said. "Once you've done it enough times, the movement will be second nature to you."

After forty-five minutes, Estelle felt like she had done it more than enough times but it still wasn't second nature. She fumbled around trying to get the position perfect, which took only a second or two but Flynn said a competent opponent could harm her in those couple seconds of uncertainty.

"It's alright," Flynn said. "You'll get it."

Estelle took a few deep breaths and lowered her aching arm. She had never thought sword fighting was _easy_, but there was definitely a lot more to it than she had imagined. An additional problem was her hair, which kept blowing in her face and distracting her. With Ba'ul towing the ship, they moved against the wind, so the strong breeze was able to smack the back of her head ever though she was facing the bow. Even though her hair was tied back, the wind made it feel like she'd tied a next of snaked to the back of her hair, and they were all determined to get back around and bite her nose. Turning around didn't help much, because all her hair flapping in the wind like a windsock tied to her skull was a huge distraction.

"Ugh!" she said, pushing it down again as another breeze sent hair into her face. "Now I know why women don't fight - it's impossible to keep your hair out of your face." She wondered if it would be better if she tied it in a tight bun, but in the thick of battle she didn't know how well pins would hold and a bun that was falling apart would be even more trouble than a snaky ponytail.

"Actually…" Flynn frowned, rubbing his chin. "It occurs to me that your hair is a safety concern."

"I know," she said, twirling the long strands in her fingers. "It keeps getting in my eyes and obstructing my vision."

"That isn't what I mean," Flynn said. "Well, that's a problem too, but I was thinking of the fact that in a fight, a ponytail is nothing more than a convenient handle for your opponent to grab your head. If anyone grabbed that and yanked…"

"Oh…" her eyes widened, imagining a bloodthirsty pirate yanking her head around while she struggled to pull away before he slitted her throat. "I didn't even think about that…" She frowned and added, "But, both Yuri and Judith have long hair and they fight. It works for them, doesn't it?"

Flynn appeared to struggle to hold in more derisive comments, and simply said dryly, "Yes, well, I would not take practical life advice from Yuri Lowell. The man had to be cuffed to his bed to keep him from killing himself."

"That's a good point. Hm…" She fiddled with her hair. "Do you think… I should cut my hair off?"

The prospect frightened and excited her at the same time. She'd never had short hair before, not since she was too young to remember. Proper ladies simply did not wear their hair short, and in all her life at the castle she had never even seen a woman with hair above the shoulders. But then, Sodia had fairly short hair, and Rita wore hers in what was actually a pretty cute bob, and there were a bunch of other female privateers on the ship who kept their hair short. She'd even seen one woman sporting a buzz cut.

"It's up to you," Flynn said. "Yuri and Judith are experienced fighters who can get away with unsafe hairstyles because they know what they're doing, but in your case anything working against you could be debilitating due to your inexperience. However, I also understand that chopping off your hair would be a huge change for you. There are many in the Council would find it scandalous."

"Yes, that's true," she said slowly, thinking it over. Short hair looked so roguish, and she knew that if she returned to the castle with short hair, the Council would throw a fit. But, if she kept her hair long, it could seriously hinder her in a fight and then she might not make it back to the castle at all. And… well, it was just hair, right? Hair grew back. She'd grown her hair out once, and she could do it again. She'd found that it got in the way while performing her doctor work, too. She tied it back while she worked, but the ponytail tended to fall over her shoulder when she leaned over a patient. "I think… I think I probably should."

Flynn nodded. "Why don't you ask Judith to cut it for you tonight after your lessons?"

Estelle nodded. "Yes, that's a good idea." She looked down at the sword still in her hand, wondering if it had really been this heavy when Flynn first handed it to her. "How much longer do you think we should work today?"

"If you're tired, we can stop if you wish," Flynn said as Estelle massaged her arm.

Estelle hesitated, wanting very much to take a break. She wasn't used to this much physical exertion. She looked him straight in the eye and asked, "Would you suggest to any other student that they stop after just a couple hours?"

Flynn hesitated before answering, and then admitted, "No."

"Then I want to keep going, too."

"As you wish."

They took about five minutes to rest her arm and get a drink of water, and then went right back to work.

* * *

"I'll raise you two gald," Judith said, tossing the coins onto the mattress.

Yuri's eyes darted between the pile and his own pair of nines. This was a pretty good hand; surely Judy couldn't have better? But she looked so confident as she threw her money in… Yuri studied her face, trying to find any sign of a crack in her poker face. She was harder to read than a treatise on tax laws. She was also a lot luckier than him, so even though he knew she could very well be bluffing, it was also possible she'd magically gotten four aces or something like that. He shook his head in defeat; he'd already lost enough money this afternoon. "Fine," he said, tossing his hand down. "You win. Let's see what you got."

Judith smiled and held out her hand, which had a pair of threes and nothing else. "Looks like I get the pot again," she said, grabbing the pile off the mattress and slipping it into her purse.

"Are you kidding me?" Yuri said. "How are you doing this?" He and Judith played poker a lot, because there wasn't much else to do on a ship, and though Judith had a better track record he usually wasn't this bad. He hadn't won a single time today.

"Your poker face is unusually easy to read today," Judith said.

Yuri sulked, grabbing the deck and shuffling his hand back into it. He sat upright on the bed, leaning against the side wall. It had been difficult to find a comfortable position with his foot locked to the bedpost. The chain was short, since they'd just used a standard pair of handcuffs they'd found in the hold. Yuri was still trying to think of an appropriate revenge on Karol for this injustice. He had an idea about slipping a spider somewhere Karol would be unhappy to find a spider in (which, knowing Karol, was basically anywhere). This plan has promise, since it would freak Karol out, give Yuri a good laugh, and was ultimately harmless. "Yeah, well it's hard to keep up a poker face with a throbbing ache in your gut. It's distracting."

"We can play again when you're feeling better, and then maybe you might actually beat me," she said, handing him her cards to put back in the deck.

"You're cruel," Yuri said, stretching his arm out to try to reach the table. The movement strained his stomach, reminding him that he probably should be lying down. Judith noticed the wince, and took the cards from his hand to take them the rest of the way. "You only came down here to take advantage of an injured man and steal all my money."

She smiled. "You know me so well."

Truthfully, Yuri was thankful that Judy had come down to spend the afternoon playing cards with him. He knew she had a lot of work to do getting the _Vesperia_ back in working order. As the boatswain, the maintenance of the ship was her responsibility and she would have preferred to oversee the crew's work. Knowing that Yuri was bored out of his mind while stuck in bed and in pain, she'd cut work early to keep him company.

A few loud knocks hit the door, and it opened before he even had a chance to respond. Estelle burst in with a huge grin and said, "Hello, Yuri! Hello, Judith!"

"Oh, hello, Estelle," Judith said, looking over her shoulder. "How is your sword training going?"

"It's going quite well, I think!" she said as Flynn entered the room behind her. Then Estelle's eyes landed on Yuri, and her smile dropped. "Yuri, what are you doing up?"

"I'm not up," Yuri said. "I'm still in bed." He gestured to the bed as evidence.

"You shouldn't be sitting upright! You need to lie down and refrain from using your abdominal muscles as much as possible until the internal bleeding fully heals."

"I can't lie on my back for that long!" Yuri protested.

"Do as she says, Yuri," Flynn said. "Lady Estellise knows what she's doing."

"I'm sorry," Judith said, "I didn't know I wasn't supposed to let him sit up."

"That's ok," Estelle said. "Yuri, please lie down." She grabbed his arm and tugged.

Yuri sighed in irritation, and then slowly scooted around on the bed and lowered himself down. Moving around hurt his stomach a lot more than he was willing to let on, though Estelle probably guessed since he ended up putting more of his weight in her arms than he'd intended. With his head on the pillow, he glared up at Estelle and said, "Happy?"

"Good. I'm going to take the bandages off for tonight, ok?" Before he could respond, she grabbed the hem of his shirt and tugged it up his torso.

"Boy," Yuri said with a smirk, "it's been a while since a woman was this eager to get my clothes off."

Estelle froze and her cheeks turned as pink as her hair. It dawned on her that forcing him onto his back in bed, handcuffing him in place, and then ripping his shirt off might possibly be interpreted in a less-than-innocent manner. She dropped his shirt and pulled her hands away, babbling, "N-no! It's not like that!"

"Yuri!" Flynn snapped. "Was that comment really necessary?"

Yuri rolled his eyes. "I'm joking. Go ahead, Estelle."

"Apologize to her," Flynn said.

Yuri turned his irritated gaze on Flynn. "Don't tell me what to do."

"I wouldn't have to if you'd behave like a gentleman."

"Do I _look_ like a gentleman to you?" Yuri said. "I wouldn't be caught dead in a stupid powdery wig."

"Please stop fighting," Estelle said. "It's ok, Flynn, it was just a joke."

Flynn crossed his arms and scowled, but didn't respond. Yuri smirked at him and then turned his attention back to Estelle as she delicately unwound the bandages around his abdomen.

"Judith," Estelle said, not looking up, "I wanted to ask you… do you think you could cut my hair?"

"Oh?" she said, raising an eyebrow. "You want to cut your hair?"

She nodded, pulling the last of the bandage away and setting it aside. Estelle frowned, and then said, "You know, Yuri, it would heal cleaner if you didn't move around so much."

"Is there a problem?" Flynn asked.

"No, it's ok," Estelle said. "It's just turning into a nasty scar because Yuri won't let it heal in peace."

Yuri shrugged and waved his hand flippantly. "What's one more scar? I've got enough of the damn things already." As Estelle took his wrist in hand and took his pulse, he asked, "Why the sudden desire for a hair cut?"

"It gets in the way while fighting," Flynn said. Estelle couldn't answer, since she was concentrating on counting Yuri's heartbeats.

"That's a good point," Judith said. "Anything your opponent can grab can be dangerous in a fight. Of course, in my case, I can't cut off my antennae so there's no point worrying about some hair, too."

"And what's your excuse, Yuri?" Flynn said.

"Well, when you're as good as I am you don't need to worry about that," he replied.

Estelle pulled her hand back and let his drop to the mattress. "Your heart rate is still pretty rapid," she said. "That means you're still low on blood so you need to take it easy for a few more days at least."

"Any chance of getting up and stretching my legs?"

"No," she said firmly. "You can get up when we reach Dahngrest, but until then you need to rest and heal."

Yuri scowled. He'd been expecting as much, but it was still annoying. He was so _bored_. He really wanted to help Flynn teach Estelle how to fight, but at this rate she'd be a master swordswoman by the time he was allowed out of bed.

"I'd be happy to cut your hair, Estelle," Judith said. "I'll go find some scissors, or at least a knife."

"Oh, thank you, Judith!" she said as Judith got up and left the room.

An idea occurred to Yuri. He wasn't allowed to help Estelle learn to sword fight, but there were other ways to fight. "Hey, Estelle, hand me my bag on the floor, would you?"

"Hm? Ok, Yuri." She leaned over, grabbed the bag, and set it on the bed.

Yuri raised his torso as much as he dared and reached into the bag to pull out his pistol and powder horn. "I'm going to show you how to load and fire a gun. It might be useful."

"Do you think so?" she asked, glancing back at Flynn.

"You don't need special training to kill an enemy with a gun," Yuri said. He pointed his at Flynn and said, "Just point the open end at the bad people and _bang_!" He pulled it up with a phantom rebound.

"Yuri!" Flynn said. "Don't wave that around, and especially don't point it at me!"

"It's not even loaded. Relax, you pansy," he said.

"Lady Estellise," Flynn said, "if you're going to learn about firing arms, please accept my instruction and _never_ point a gun at a person if you don't intend to actually fire! Accidents can happen."

Yuri rolled his eyes. "Yes, Flynn, you'll be the first man in history to be killed by an imaginary bullet. Look, see?" He held the gun barrel down and shook it. "Nothing in there." Traces of black powder sprinkled onto his chest.

"It's not a safe habit," Flynn said. "Guns are dangerous and-"

"Blah blah blah," Yuri said, raising his voice to talk over him. "Anyway, Estelle, this is how you fire a gun. First, you got to half-cock the trigger. Just pull it back halfway like this."

"You can't fire it when it's like this," Flynn pointed out. "Remember to keep it in this position until you're ready to fire."

"Right," Yuri said. "Once you've half-cocked it, you need to put powder in the barrel. This," he pulled out a small cup from the bag, "is a powder measure. You should probably use it at first until you get a feel for how much powder you're supposed to put in."

"You should _always_ use the powder measure," Flynn said. "Pouring in too much or too little powder is also dangerous."

"Yeah, sure, Flynn," Yuri said. "You fumble around with your measuring cup in the middle of battle. Tell me how that works out, if you actually survive long enough to tell me."

"Please stop fighting," Estelle said, slumping her shoulders.

"Forgive me," Flynn said.

"Yeah, anyway," Yuri said, setting the gun down and grabbing the powder horn in his other hand. He tried to screw off the lid, and grimaced as the pressure aggravating his busted hand. It was hard to do while lying on his back while also keeping it level to avoid spilling powder all over his chest. "Just… take it… off," he grunted, trying to find a way to grip it without using his thumb.

Flynn sighed and held out his hand. "Give it here."

"No, I can do it," Yuri insisted.

"You clearly can't. Give it to me before you make a mess."

"I can open a stupid powder container."

"Yuri," Estelle said, reaching out and resting her hand over his, "it's ok. Just let Flynn show me this part. If you strain your hand, you might rip your stitches, and that wasn't fun last time, was it?"

Yuri glared at her for a few seconds, and then reluctantly let her take the powder horn from his hands. His head fell back onto the pillow in frustration, and words bubbled up, fiery in his mind, _I hate this. _He felt so _useless_, especially with stupid Flynn right there doing everything he couldn't. When they had been kids, Flynn was _always_ one step ahead of him. He won all their races, he climbed trees faster, he beat Yuri in sword fights with sticks, and he even had the gall to let Yuri win sometimes to spare him the blow to his ego. Yuri wanted to go back to hating everything Flynn had turned into since they parted, because it was almost less irritating than this reminder of how it felt to get constantly shown up by a guy who wasn't even putting effort into trying to show him up.

"Yuri?" Flynn said. "Did you hear me?"

"What?" He pulled himself out of his sulking.

"I asked if you have patch material."

"Of course I do," Yuri said, reaching into his bag. "The balls are in here, too." He pulled out one of each and handed them to Flynn. As much as he wanted to load the gun himself, he reluctantly had to admit that maybe Flynn was right and it would be better if Flynn did this part.

"Take a small square of patch material," Flynn said, "and lay it over the top of the barrel. Place the lead ball on top and push it into the pistol. Use the ramrod to push it all the way down."

"You can do this part ahead of time," Yuri said. "It's fine to leave it loaded like this, but don't pull back the hammer and prime it until you're ready to shoot."

"Um, I don't know what that means, but ok," she said, looking between him and the gun.

"Oh, now you're giving safety advice?" Flynn said. "I thought you didn't believe in safety rules."

"Of course I do," Yuri said. "I just don't take them overboard like a certain person I know."

"There's no such thing as being too cautious," Flynn said. He finished jamming the ball down and put the ramrod aside. "Now, this is as far as I'm going to go because once we move on to the next step, it will be ready to fire and it would be dangerous to leave it sitting around ready to shoot."

"Then fire the damn thing," Yuri said.

"Given your financial troubles, I thought you'd want to conserve your bullets."

"Oh. Well…"

"It's ok, Yuri," Estelle said. "I don't need to see you actually fire."

"Yeah, I guess," Yuri said. "It's pretty easy from here. Just put a little gunpowder on the pan."

"That's this part," Flynn said, holding it out and pointing.

"And then snap the frizzen over it," Yuri said.

"That's this," Flynn said, pointing to the rounded piece of steel. "When the flint hits this piece of metal, it will make a spark that ignites the powder you just put in the pan. That starts a reaction with the powder in the barrel, which shoots the ball out."

Estelle nodded slowly. "I see."

"Pull the hammer back all the way," Yuri said, "and then pull the trigger to shoot. It's not too difficult."

"The hard part is aiming," Flynn said, hand the half-cocked gun back to Yuri, who put it away in his bag. "Hitting a target is a lot harder than it sounds, so don't shoot if your allies are right next to your enemy until you're more experienced."

"Alright," Estelle said. "Thank you for showing me this. Yesterday I got… a better education than I would have hoped of what kind of damage these things can do. It's good to know how they work."

"Well, now look at you," Yuri said. "Swords and pistols… soon you'll be a proper privateer!"

Flynn gave him a disapproving look, while Estelle fumbled over her words. "Oh, well, I… I'm not a privateer. I couldn't! I mean, after we rescue Ioder, I need to go back…"

Before she had to continue, Judith entered the room with a knife in hand. "I couldn't find scissors," she said, "so I hope I knife will work."

"It'll cut just fine," Yuri said.

"Alright," Judith said. "Sit down and I'll cut it."

Estelle slowly nodded and took a seat in the chair. He hair was still in a ponytail, which she loosened and pulled a bit further down her neck. "Cut it right above the ponytail."

"Are you certain, Lady Estellise?" Flynn said. "It will take quite a while to grow back."

"I know," Estelle said, gripping the sides of the chair tightly. "But it's getting in the way. I don't want it to hinder me, or to keep me from helping the rest of you to the best of my ability. So… just do it, Judith." She took a deep breath and squeezed her eyes shut.

Judith gripped held the long pink ponytail in one hand and pulled it taught. With the other hand, she brought the knife to the base of the ponytail and slowly pulled up, cutting through over an inch of hair. It only took a few seconds, and then Judith stepped back with a long pink snake of hair in hand. "All done."

Estelle slowly opened her eyes and immediately glance to Flynn who nodded reassuringly. She cocked her head to the side, and then experimentally shook her head back and forth, letting the shorts strands swish around her chin.

"Well?" Judith said.

"It's so… light," Estelle said. She reached up and ran her fingers through her hair. "Thank you, Judith," she said.

"Anytime," Judith said. "Here." She handed Estelle the remains of her hair, still held together in the ponytail.

Estelle took it and looked down at her hands with wide eyes. "Wow… I've been growing this out for my whole life and now it's just… it's gone."

"It looks cute," Judith said with a smile.

Estelle turned to her with a smile. "Y-you think so?"

"Yeah, sure," Yuri said. "It's nice."

"What do you think, Flynn? Is it ok? Oh, the Council is going to be furious…"

"I don't doubt that," Flynn said. "But this haircut will be much more practical on this journey. Besides, it looks nice on you," he added with a smile.

Estelle hopped up with a huge smile. "I'm going to go show Rita!" Without another word, she dashed out of the room.

After a long pause in the wake of her absence, Judith said, "Well. She seems happy."

* * *

Nearly the entire crew gathered on deck for Karol's memorial service. Some of them had important work to do elsewhere on the ship and couldn't get away, while others – like Yuri – were laid up in bed with injuries. Those who could make it, though, gathered on the deck in a solemn crowd as Karol gave a short speech to commemorate the lives lost in the attack. Even Ragou showed up, although Estelle thought he had just wandered up to the deck to stretch his legs and then feared walking out would gain the ire of every scary-looking privateer on board.

It was the most unusual memorial service Estelle had ever attended. Karol did mention the goddess, but he also mentioned other gods - older gods. Estelle had heard that some people beyond the empire, or even within it though they didn't speak up, didn't worship the goddess and instead stayed loyal to the old gods.

This didn't make sense to her; those gods had abandoned them. When the world flooded a thousand years ago, they did nothing to help the panicking populace. It was only the goddess, the great dragon that took Krityan form, that helped them. Estelle knew in her heart that if the world was ever threatened like that again, it would be the goddess who returned to save them, not these pagan spirits some people still clung to. She stayed quiet through the ceremony, though. There was no point making a fuss and insulting someone else's beliefs. If they wanted to find comfort in some giant serpent that encircled the globe but ignored human suffering, that was their right.

When Karol finished, there was a long silence as everyone prayed to whatever – if any – god they believed in. With a mumbled assessment, the crowd quietly dispersed. Estelle had stood near the back with Rita, who now turned to lean on the railing and look out at the water.

"That was a nice service," Estelle said, leaning against the railing next to her. She liked the way her hair flapped in the wind now. It wasn't long and tangled, it just lightly brushed her cheeks.

"Yeah, I guess so," Rita said.

"Do you believe in the goddess, Rita?" Estelle asked.

Rita frowned, drumming her fingers on the railing. "No." She quickly glanced to Estelle and added, "I mean, I think it's cool that you do, but… I don't believe in anything without solid evidence."

Estelle nodded and said, "I understand. So you don't believe in the old gods either, right?"

"Well… I'm not sure," Rita said. "Judith does. I asked her about it once, and she says them existing is just a fact and it doesn't matter if people believe in them or not. She said saying you believe in them is as silly as saying you believe in dolphins, because they're there whether you acknowledge them or not. But, I still haven't seen any hard evidence of them existing."

The legends said the old gods took the form of massive monsters who could speak the human language, but surely if such a thing still existed, it would be hard to hide, wouldn't it? "You know, I never did ask, Rita," Estelle said. "Yuri told me he and Karol met you and Judith in Capua Torim, but what were you two doing there? Have you known each other for a long time?"

"Not too much longer," Rita said. "We met and started travelling together a couple of years before we teamed up with Yuri and Karol. Judith was doing some research on the world and came to Aspio, where I was studying geology. By that point, I had read every book on the subject ever written and figured I could get a lot more accomplished doing field research, so we left town together."

"Geology… that's the study of the ground, right?"

Rita nodded. "Yeah, the way the world works."

"Why was Judith studying that?"

Rita looked over her shoulder and Estelle followed her gaze to see Judith chatting with Karol. "I have no idea. I asked her and she just said 'personal interest.'"

"So, did you two discover anything interesting in your studies?" Estelle read as many books as she could get her hands on, but the castle library had been short on science books. She knew a lot about history, but scientific knowledge beyond anatomy and physiology was a mystery to her.

"We confirmed a hypothesis, at the very least," Rita said. "It's something scientists have been talking about for years, but we made up a huge list of all the seismic events around the world that anyone could report to us spanning decades-"

"What's a seismic event?" Estelle asked. She usually got lost whenever Rita started talking about cannons, but now she was getting lost talking about a completely different subject.

Rita waved her hand impatiently. "You know, earthquakes and stuff. Anyway, we confirmed a pretty sobering hypothesis."

"What's that?"

"It's an educated guess."

Estelle frowned at her. "I know what a hypothesis is, Rita. I meant, what hypothesis did you confirm?"

"Alright, well you know all these seismic events? They're becoming more frequent. It's happening at a really slow rate so you wouldn't notice if you looked at just your lifetime, but over the span of centuries…" Rita frowned, glaring down at the ocean so it seemed she was talking to herself more than Estelle now. "It used to be that decades would pass between massive earthquakes and the subsequent tsunamis. Now, we're getting multiple a year. I looked at old maps from centuries ago, and the landmasses used to be much bigger, too. We've seen massive flooding and erosion in recent history, like what happened to central Tolbyccia and Dahngrest, but if you really look at the progression of erosion, it's clear that if the pace continues as it is, there's not going to be very much land left to live on in a century or so."

"The land is sinking?" Estelle asked, eyes widening. "I've heard there are sometimes landslides along the coast, but I was always told it wasn't a big deal."

Rita scowled. "Yeah, the empire likes to pretend it's no big deal. They're afraid to deal with the fact that coastal areas keep slipping into the ocean, which makes new coastal areas and then _those_ slip into the ocean."

"That sounds like a huge problem!" Estelle said. She wondered if Ioder knew about this. If not, she was going to make sure she told him when he took the throne because if islands were sinking, something had to be done about it.

"The problem is that it's happening too slowly for anyone to notice or care," Rita said, finally looking away from the ocean to turn her gaze on Estelle. "All these events are so spaced out it seems like no big deal. To anyone who knows about geology, though, this is _fast_. If you condensed the entire history of the planet up until now into one day, all these events would usually be spaced a minute or so apart, but now they're happening with less than a second between them and it keeps speeding up. The world is literally falling apart, and no one cares."

"But… why?" Estelle asked, staring at Rita fearfully. "Why is this happening?"

Rita shook her head in frustration. "I don't know. We started travelling with Yuri and Karol because it was easier to stick with one ship and travel the world looking for more information, but so far we haven't found anything. All I can guess is that there's something going on in the mantle that's kick-starting tectonic activity."

"The… mantle?" Estelle asked with a frown. "You mean like a fireplace?"

"No, I mean… do you know how plate tectonics work?"

Estelle stared at Rita blankly. She knew a lot about where dinner plates were supposed to go on a table, but she had a feeling that wasn't what Rita was talking about. "Um… no."

Rita sighed in exasperation. "Alright um… picture the world like an orange." Rita held up her hand as if she was holding an invisible orange. "We live on the peel, which is the crust. It's like a thin layer of rock all over the globe. Below that, all the fruity part is molten rock and metal. You know, like lava that comes out of volcanoes?"

"Oh!" Estelle said, nodding eagerly. She had never thought about where lava came from. She thought volcanoes maybe produced it inside the mountain, but if there was lava underneath the whole world, that would make sense. "So there's lava underground – even under the ocean?"

Rita nodded. "It's actually called magma when it's underground, but yeah. And the crust we live on – the peel – is broken up into huge chunks called plates. For example, all the Ilyccia Islands are on one plate, the Ilyccia Plate. The plates float around on the magma. Get it?"

"I think so," Estelle said with a nod.

"Good. Now, the plates move because the magma in the mantle is constantly moving. The hot magma at the core rises up, and as it reaches the crust it cools down and sinks. This makes circular movement called convection currents, and as the magma moves it carries the plates around on top."

"Ok, I understand," Estelle said. "What does this have to do with earthquakes and things like that?"

"Everything," Rita said. "When the plates move, they bump into and scrape against each other. That's what causes earthquakes, and earthquakes at sea are what cause tsunamis. Earthquakes are also what causes the landslides that are sinking the islands. If earthquakes are happening more frequently, that means the plates are moving faster than usual. Something is causing increased activity in the mantle… but I have no idea what it could be. The problem is only going to get worse, though, and I'm worried about what will happen if nobody does anything."

"Don't worry, Rita," Estelle said. "I'll make sure Ioder knows about this and the government will do something about it."

"Yeah, I just hope it will be enough."

Estelle looked out at the ocean, which suddenly seemed a lot less serene now that she was thinking about massive plates right below them, smashing together and destroying the world. This was just a hypothesis… right? Yes, they'd confirmed that the rate of disasters was accelerating, but there was no proof it would keep going and cause all the islands in the world to eventually sink. Even if it did, that would be decades, centuries even, into the future. It was so much to take in, and she just couldn't worry about it all at once like this.

"I'm going to pop in on Yuri," Rita said.

"That's very nice of you," Estelle said, smiling. "I'm sure he's bored."

Rita scowled. "I'm not trying to be nice! He's such a stubborn idiot I don't trust him not to hurt himself without supervision. You should keep him on drugs during the day – that always puts him to sleep."

Estelle's smile didn't drop. It really was sweet of Rita to care about her friend, even though she wouldn't admit to having friends. "I don't want to give him any more laudanum than he needs," she said. "By now, I wouldn't give it to him at all if he didn't ask for it. I think the pain keeps him up at night and then he's grumpy the next day."

She looked around the deck and saw Flynn in a conversation with Ragou. Ragou looked agitated, probably because Estelle had seen Flynn harshly cut Ragou off earlier when he tried to object to the inclusion of other gods during the ceremony.

"I'm going to go save Flynn," she said. "We're probably going to continue sword lessons soon."

"Ha, good luck," Rita said. "See you later, Estelle."

"Yeah, you too," she said with a big smile. She wondered if Rita had any idea how happy it made her whenever she used 'Estelle'.


End file.
